A Family Christmas
by starships fly
Summary: It'll be a normal Christmas this year for the Redfox family. No insane guild bar fights, no Christmas trees collapsing, and definitely no sled races across Magnolia. Just family, presents, and fun. Unfortunately, it's hard enough to have a normal family Christmas, and it's near impossible when you've got guild mates who are dead-set on making you enjoy the holidays with them.
1. Most Wonderful Time of the Year

**Since the holidays are swiftly approaching it felt appropriate to write a little Christmas Gajevy. Hope you all enjoy!**

 **I am not worthy of claiming to own the masterpiece that is Fairy Tail or any of its glorious characters. I must give that honor to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

 _Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!_

A tired groan rumbled against Levy's ear as calloused fingers untangled themselves from her hair, and a strong arm slipped gently underneath her shoulders before pounding the offending alarm clock into silence. That same arm then found its way back around her shoulders and pulled her up against the owner's chest.

Levy sighed happily and nestled into the warm embrace before cracking open an eyelid to peer up at her husband, whose ruby eyes glinted as he smirked at her.

"Morning," she smiled, stifling a yawn.

"Morning," he echoed back.

She buried her face against his chest and his chin found its place on top of her head. She hummed in pleasure as his hand started to rub up and down her back, following the path of her spine.

"How long do you think we have?" she asked, although she was perfectly content to stay in this position for the rest of the day; in their bed, in his arms.

He chuckled softly as he readjusted his hold on her. "We have, say, five seconds."

Levy groaned inwardly and waited for the sound of a swinging door which would be followed by incomprehensible squeals of pure joy that warmed her heart to no extent but were a bit too loud in the morning for her taste.

Three.

Two.

One.

Perfectly on que, the door to their room was flung open by a downright overjoyed five-year-old. Levy pushed herself up with one arm to see over Gajeel's shoulder. Their daughter, Mey-rin, stood in the doorway; dark indigo hair threatening to consume her head whole, and a smile spread wide over her rosy cheeks and her golden eyes danced with joy. She was in her favorite winter pajamas: a pink onesie decorated with snowflakes that were perfect for the upcoming holidays.

"Mommy, Daddy! Guess what!" she cried barreling over to their bed.

Gajeel turned over to catch their daughter in his large hands; hoisting her up onto the bed with them before settling her on his stomach, he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What?" he asked her, fully playing along even though they both knew the answer.

"Fifteen days until Christmas!" she threw her hands in the air and bounced excitedly on his chest with her knees.

Levy giggled, they'd received the same good morning from their daughter every day throughout all of December. Only yesterday had been sixteen days, and before that it had been seventeen.

Another figure appeared in the doorway, this one much darker and furrier, wearing white and blue pinstriped pajamas and a matching nightcap covering his round ears.

"What's with all of the racket?" Lily grumbled sleepily, rubbing one of his eyes. Levy wanted to laugh, he looked _beyond_ adorable in the pajamas she had bought him for the winter, and he wore them with incredible dignity.

"Uncle Lily!" Mey-rin squealed. "Guess what? Fifteen days till Christmas!" she cried just as happily as she had before.

"You don't say," Lily smiled tiredly as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Hey, Daddy? Can we pwetty pwease have pancakes for breakfast?" Mey-rin begged.

Gajeel smirked at Levy before passing over the squirming bundle of child and climbing out of bed. "Sure thing, munchkin. Let me just get a shirt." Mey-rin giggled happily as Levy placed several kisses on her fluffy head.

"Where's your brother, honey?" she asked, half expecting her twin to come through the door at any moment.

"Jason is sleeping, so I came by myself." Mey-rin explained, cuddling up to her side. She smiled; their son and daughter may have been twins, but they were hardly alike. Mey-rin was happy and awake at all hours of the day but Jason was more than content to sleep until lunch time and was strangely mature for five.

Gajeel reappeared into their line of vision, a gray t-shirt now covering up his muscular chest. He scooped Mey-rin up and rested her on his side. "Mind gettin the boy up?" he asked her.

Levy shook her head. "You two start breakfast, I'll be there in a minute."

Gajeel grinned at their daughter. "You heard the lady, let's go." He said, carrying her out of the room.

"Lily! You come too, okay!" Mey-rin called over his shoulder. The black exceed smiled and nodded in agreement before following them out.

Levy sighed and stretched her arms and legs out across the warm mattress under the covers before slipping out. Sunlight was spilling in from the windows, prompting her to look outside. A fresh, thick powdery blanket was spread out across Magnolia. She could see the guild a little ways off in the distance several streets over; the tinsel and lights that they had spent days decorated it with were barely visible.

Making her way out of her bedroom, she turned in the hallway and quietly walked the short distance to the twins room before peeking her head in. Toys and paper snowflakes were spread across the carpet, and Mey-rin's pink bedspread lay in a messy pile near the foot of her bed. Across the room in a dark green bedspread, lay a still figure with one arm thrown across his sleeping face. Smiling, Levy crept silently across the room before kneeling next to her son. Dark, raven hair he'd inherited from his father fell over his closed eyes. and Levy gently brushed it away before kissing his forehead.

Jason, sweetie," she cooed, rubbing his back gently through his reindeer onesie in an attempt to coax him into waking up. "It's time to get up."

He grumbled and turned onto his side away from her. "Five more minutes, Mommy." he mumbled into his pillow.

Levy covered her mouth as tears of happiness sprang into the corners of her eyes. He hadn't called her 'Mommy' for months. Gentle tactics vanishing, she bent down and rested her mouth against his neck before blowing a raspberry against his warm, tan skin.

He let out a squeal before flailing under his covers in an attempt to escape. He spun around to face her, dark brown eyes wild. "What was that for?!" he panted at her.

Levy just smiled. "Up and at em, sweetie," she winked. "We've got a very big day ahead of us."

* * *

It was December 10th, after all. The official Christmas decorating date for the Redfox's.

Levy smiled into her mug as she inhaled her cocoa, gulping down the piping hot, chocolatey goodness. She could never forget it; it was dubbed decorating day for every year since the twins had been born. This would make year number five.

Her daughter sat rocking beside her in her chair, smile widely as she waited for breakfast. She and Gajeel had practically destroyed the kitchen putting breakfast together; there was pancake batter on every cupboard and even on the ceiling, and dirty bowls and pans piled high in the sink. Jason sat across from his sister, staring hungrily at a fork through tired, dark brown eyes. Levy gently swatted his hand when he reached for it and he grumbled something before resting his raven-haired head on the table.

"Please tell me you're almost done over there," she called over to Gajeel's back as he cooked breakfast at the stove. "Jason is trying to eat the silverware again." She normally didn't end up fussing about whether or not Jason ate metal, but trying to eat utensils that were meant to be used for eating took it just a little too far.

"Don't see much of a problem with it." Her husband shrugged as he placed two more pancakes on a colossal, and still growing, pile held by a flying Lily with a spatula, who had changed out of his pajamas, and was now in his regular loincloth. Gajeel's messy, black hair was kept out of his face by a red and white striped bandana which had been Mey-rin's gift to him last year. Lily had teased him mercilessly about it, telling him he looked like a giant iron candy cane.

"You wouldn't but this is going to be the third time I'll have to go to the store for another set this year if you two can't keep your paws out." She reminded him, taking another swig from her mug. Christmas time meant no coffee, only hot chocolate. She couldn't complain though; it may not give her the same burst of energy she relied on each morning so she could keep her sanity in tact but it still made her feel all warm and toasty inside.

"Sorry, Mom." Jason murmured into the table. Levy sighed before smiling, reaching across the table to pat her son on the head; which he responded to be whining and insisting on not being a baby anymore. Levy quietly pouted against her mug; five years old was still a baby to her. Besides, it wasn't her fault that he looked _beyond_ precious in his little reindeer onesie.

"Daddy, I'm hungry!" Mey-rin insisted. "Please can we eat now?" she pouted, sticking out her bottom lip pleadingly.

Levy resisted the giggle that rose in her throat as her husband let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes, munchkin, we can eat now." She knew he would never admit it, but big, strong Black Steel Gajeel was complete putty in their daughter's hands; one look at her honey golden eyes had that effect on most men and women alike.

Lily struggled to carry breakfast over, the staggering pile swaying with his every single move as he tried to balance it. He dropped the plate on the table with a triumphant grunt and Mey-rin gasped and clapped happily. Levy strained her neck to see the top of the pile and smiled when she saw that there was a slightly disfigured snowman made up of blueberries. _Cute!_

Gajeel took his place across from Levy before forking six pancakes onto his own plate. She gave herself three before serving Jason four and Mey-rin two and both twins didn't waste their time attempting to drown their pancakes in syrup. Lily sat politely in his stool next to Mey-rin eating the remains of a kiwi crumble Levy had baked last week. She sliced out a piece of pancake and dipped it into some of the blueberry juice that had burst out before shoving the tiny piece of breakfast deliciousness into her mouth.

"Can I help you on the roof this year, Dad?" Jason asked between bites.

Gajeel shrugged before ruffling his son's hair with a smirk. "Nothing wrong with that; you're a big kid now, right?" Jason responded with a toothy grin, the long canines he had inherited from his father gleaming.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Levy cut in, staring directly at her husband while holding her mug. "You nearly broke your neck putting up the lights last year." She reminded him, recalling the memory of the girlish scream her husband had unleashed that could be heard from inside of the house. When Levy had found him outside he had been hanging upside down with a grumpy expression on the side of the house with his arms crossed, a thick coil of lights wrapped tightly around his boot and suspending him in the air.

Gajeel gave her a "you're being an immense party pooper, Shrimp" glare. "Come on, that ain't gonna happen again."

Levy raised an eyebrow. "And you can prove this how?" she questioned, glaring at him from behind her mug.

He responded with a shrug before raising his own mug. "Even if it did happen to him that's what the bushes are for." He murmured into it.

Levy slammed her mug down so hard that some of the hot, brown liquid sloshed over the brim and stood up, both hands placed on the table. "Not funny!" she yelled at him, which was echoed by Gajeel's cackles. The last thing she needed to think about was digging her precious baby boy out of the large shrubs that outlined the back of their house.

"Don't worry Mommy!" Mey-rin grabbed her hand. "I won't fall off any roofs because I'll be decorating inside with you and Uncle Lily!" Levy sighed before sitting down to finish eating.

"Yesterday at the guild I was talking to Lu and we're invited to Christmas dinner at her place." She informed the family.

Gajeel snorted into his drink. "You're kidding me! You won't let the boy here go up on the roof for half an hour and yet you'll let both of them spend the night in the same room as Salamander! Besides, I'm pretty sure we agreed we'd just stay home this Christmas." He reminded her.

Levy knew he was right. After the guild party last Christmas and spending several nights in a row plagued by night terrors, they'd both decided they would take this year easy. But still, she didn't want to spend Christmas without seeing her friends at all!

"I like going to Aunt Lucy's! I get to play with Aiden!" Mey-rin announced, Levy winced at the sound of Gajeel's fork breaking in half between his teeth.

"You're not allowed to like that little punk until you're an adult." He growled, glaring straight past Levy's head and burning an invisible hole in the wall.

"But why not, Daddy?" Mey-rin questioned, blissfully ignorant to his overprotectiveness.

Levy suppressed a giggle; he was already hopelessly overprotective of their daughter but especially so when it came to the male children of the guild. This was especially the case for Lu and Natsu's son, Aiden. She was fairly certain it had started two years ago on Valentine's Day, when Aiden had kissed Mey-rin on the cheek. Most of her friends had found it adorable and fawned over the two toddlers, Levy herself included, but Gajeel had nearly given himself a coronary and had ended up starting a fight with Natsu since he couldn't beat up on a three-year-old.

"Don't worry, honey; Daddy's just being a grinch. You can like and play with Aiden for as long as you wish." She comforted her daughter, purposely ignoring Gajeel's comment that followed the lines of 'can't play with a dead man' and kissed the top of her fluffy head.

They spent the rest of breakfast eating in strange silence at their small table, except for when Mey-rin hugged Lily to her tiny chest so hard he was begging for her to let go before she crushed him. It was adorable how she sometimes treated Lily like her own personal teddy bear but her affections could sometimes proved to be life threatening. The pile of pancakes slowly became smaller as they all stuffed themselves. Levy was struggling to finish her sixth one when Jason shoveled down the remains of his ninth.

"Done!" he gasped before dropping his fork on the table. "Can we please go now, Dad?"

Gajeel raised an eyebrow towards Levy as a way of asking permission. She groaned and nodded before Jason took off in search of his coat, while Gajeel lingered long enough to brush a kiss against Mey-rin's forehead before following; leaving her to an avalanche of dirty dishes and spilled batter. She groaned inwardly at the thought of cleaning the mess up, but at least she'd have LIly and he was great when it came to helping around the house. It was almost like having a friend, nanny, and housekeeper all in one adorable, fluffy package.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I've got some errands to run." Lily said before setting his plate on the counter near the sink.

"What! You're gonna leave me here! By myself!" Levy gawked, gesturing wildly around the room. "It'll take forever to just get breakfast cleaned up! And the there's hanging up the wreaths, putting up tinsel, decorating the tree!" she listed on her hands, desperately hoping to get Lily to change his mind about errands. She was only one woman; sure she had Mey-rin but she was too small to even reach the sink, much less wash dishes.

Lily sighed and held up an apologetic hand. "I'm sure you'll manage but I have a very busy day ahead of me and simply cannot spend the day on chores. I should be back in a few hours and then I'll be more than happy to offer you my assistance." He explained before flying towards the door.

Levy gave up on pleading, instead reaching for the closest sharp thing within her reach (a fork) and flung after Lily, praying that hanging out with Erza so often during the last few months would've meant she'd picked up on some of her skills in the art of intimidation. The fork ended up embedding itself next to Lily's head in the doorframe, and he slowly turned around with a beyond petrified look on his face.

"You're not going anywhere, cat! You're a part of this family, you hear me you kiwi munching freeloader!" Levy hollered at him, entirely aware of the dark aura emanating from her form. "So that means you're gonna act like a part of this family and help me whether you like it or not with a smile, got it?!"

Lily stared at her for a moment more. "Let me get my apron," he finally murmured before dashing out of the room so fast you'd think all of the lightning in the world were trying to catch him.

Levy sighed before leaning back into her chair. She caught Mey-rin staring up at her with wide, golden eyes; blinking quickly every once in awhile. Oh, fantastic. She'd probably just scarred her little angel for life, but it wasn't her fault. She was one woman! One woman wasn't capable of cleaning up an entire kitchen plus the house; not to mention hang up decorations, make sure the driveway got shoveled, and prepare lunch by eleven thirty so they could head to the guild at noon! Sometimes she had behave like a drill sergeant or nothing could have ever gotten done!

"Mommy, you're scary." She informed her as casually as if she were stating that it's cold when it snows before hopping off of her chair and strolling out of the room; her onesie covered feet making dull thuds against the wooden floor as she began to skip away.

Levy laughed awkwardly to herself once she was alone. "Most wonderful time of the year, right?" she asked no one in particular.


	2. Icy Rooftops and Safety Equipment

**I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. As my personal Christmas gift to all of you, I have updated every single one of my stories today. I hope this makes up for my hectic schedule of updates. I know it's not actually on the correct date like I wanted but I had such a busy day with relatives that I couldn't wrap everything up and so maybe you can consider this as a late gift. Things are getting busy and I have exams after winter break (sigh). But I hope you enjoy all of my stories and if you're strictly reading only one of them, why not open up your surroundings and check them out if your interested. If not that's totally fine, I'm thrilled I'm already getting so much support but I always love hearing more. I wish you all happiness and jolliness and hope you enjoy the stories. And, as always, please review!**

* * *

"Um, Dad? Do we have to do this?"

"Yes."

Gajeel had to admit that using a strand of lights as a rope to tie around his son's waist to prevent him from falling may have been a bit too far, but the kid was about as clumsy as a reindeer on ice skates. They'd barely gotten onto the roof and Jason had nearly fallen off three times. It wasn't really even for his son's safety, it was for his. If Jason actually ended up falling, his wife would've probably skinned his ass while the kids and Lily watched.

He finished securing a knot around the chimney, he took the strand in his gloved hand and tugged at the line experimentally to make sure it could support enough weight. When it showed no signs of breaking he bent over to pick up the overflowing box of multicolored Christmas lights they kept in the attic

"We've got about half an hour to get the lights done. If we take any longer yer mom's gonna think we're goofing off or ya fell and I'm trying to figure out a good excuse to cover it."

"What's the big deal? She ain't that scary." Jason pouted, sinking into his thick navy coat.

Gajeel knew he could about into thorough detail about just how petrifying that woman could be but he didn't feel like hearing about any more nightmares. He already had plenty thanks to hanging around the nutcases at the guild. Who knew his own son would have reoccurring night terrors that involved barrels full of chickens. Then again, he and Shrimp could both list hundreds of times where they'd been scared shitless by wilder shit than that.

"Look, being married to your mother means I have to make sure to keep her happy. And to keep her happy right now means that you were the safety lights happily and I won't have to worry about awakening the bloodthirsty banshee the sleeps inside of her." He explained, dropping the box of lights into Jason's arms before sliding down the roof, the extra snow providing perfect momentum, and landing gracefully in their backyard.

"Oi! How come you get to do that?!" Jason strained against his safety lights to gawk at him.

Gajeel grinned. "Because I'm the adult!" he answered before heading back inside in search of more lights.

Twenty minutes and three boxes of lights later they'd finally managed to finish the front of the house. Gajeel, now wearing his own homemade safety equipment, hung near the last window on the second floor to nail the last of the lights into place with a hammer replacing his arm.

"Gajeel-kun!"

Gajeel winced at the over excited tone that came from somewhere behind him. Struggling to turn around while trying, and failing, to undo the knot of lights around his stomach. Dammit, why had he tied the things so tight! He reached up to grab the gutters to pull himself up but the tips of his fingers barely skimmed it. All he succeeded in doing was start swaying to the side in his struggles. He finally managed to kick off against the roof to turn around.

Juvia Lockser leaned against their tinsel decorated fence post, one hand waving at them in greeting. Deep blue locks spilled out of her hat and onto her white duffle coat. Her four-year-old daughter, Noel, struggled to barely see over the fence. Her tiny face barely visible through the homemade scarf that was wrapped around her neck and black curly hair gathered into two tails that hung over her shoulders.

"Hi, Aunt Juvia!" Jason waved from over his head, leaning over the side of the roof.

"Jason," he hissed under his breath. "A little help here."

Jason looked down towards him, and a slightly evil grin spread across his face. "Sorry. I can't," he explained, tugging at his own lights. "You see these ain't long for me to reach you. But you're an adult, so you can figure it out."

"Why you little!" he hissed, now trying to grab his son. That little punk! He knew he had at least another yard of leeway and could easily help him if he stretched. Gajeel contemplated silently if he could possibly scale his way up to the roof, grab his son and have him in a headlock before he screamed and Shrimp came out wielding a bat.

"Um, Gajeel-kun, are you alright?"

"Just peachy, Juvia!" he growled, yanking at the lights. If he'd known what perfect restraints these made he would've used them to tie up Aden last week when he was talking to his little Mey-rin. Who did that little brat think he was anyway; holding her hand, hugging her every chance he could get his grubby little paws on her. He was six months older than her, the runty little pervert!

His thoughts were interrupted by the unsettling sound of wires stretching and slowly snapping. With a snap, the light strand broke and he fell to the ground, landing on his ass with a dignified yelp. He growled in frustration, standing up and snapping the knot right off so it fell around his feet. Juvia was at his side in an instant, obviously trying to look concerned but its effect was lost by the giggle she was trying to hide.

"Is Gajeel-kun alright?" she asked, covering both her mouth to stifle her laughs. He grumbled a 'yes' at her before straightening up. Jason, who had used his magic to cut through his own multicolored restraints, was down in the yard an instant later.

"Oh man! You should've seen yourself, Dad!" he cackled holding his sides. "And Mom thought I would be the one who'd fall off the roof!"

Juvia reached over and cuffed him over the head. "Don't laugh at your father, Jason-kun," she scolded lightly.

"But you were laughing at him too, Aunt Juvia."

"Yes, but Juvia and your father have known each other for a very long time, so she is not required to respect him." She crouched down to explain to him with a gentle smile.

Now then!" she clapped her hands together before pushing Jason over in Noel's direction. "Jason-kun, why don't you play with Noel-chan while Juvia and Gajeel-kun talk." Jason grumbled something about not being included in adult conversations but still ran over to where Noel was waiting behind the fence posts.

"So, what's up?" he began almost lamely.

Juvia shrugged. "Juvia and Noel-chan were just headed to the guild. Gray-sama says that we're not allowed to come home until tonight because he's wrapping presents for us!" she swooned, both hands on either side of her face as she jumped around giddily. Gajeel fake vomited under his breath. 'Gimme a break,' he thought, although he couldn't help but smirk at his friend's behavior.

"Would Gajeel-kun and the rest of the family like to join us?" Juvia offered.

Gajeel shook his head. "Nah, not this time around. We're supposed to head up there anyway but not until we've finished decorating the house."

Juvia turned around and examined the lights hanging across the windows and the heavily decorated roof of the white house.

"It looks decorated to Juvia," she inquired. "By the way, is it true that you're all staying home for Christmas?"

Gajeel groaned inwardly, he'd really hoped no one would find out about that. All they wanted was to stay home and have a quiet family Christmas; something you could never get at the guild. He and Levy had both agreed it was safer for them physically and definitely mentally if they just stayed home, especially after last Christmas. All he could remember was waking up in a pile of rubble and using a thawed chicken as a pillow and Levy and the kids on top of him with a collapsed guild hall surrounding them. He really hadn't expected to find out that Natsu had tried to ride the tree and ended up combusting it and inevitably starting a free-for-all brawl that destroyed half of the guild and certain parts of Magnolia became casualties of war. He still had nightmares.

"We're just gonna be hanging out at home is all. Besides, we're going over to Bunnygirl's for dinner anyway."

Juvia nodded in understanding. "Yes, Juvia got an invitation for Lucy-chan as well. Well, Juvia and Noel-chan should be going, but Juvia hopes she sees Gajeel-kun later, yes?"

It was Gajeel's turn to nod, "sure thing."

Juvia practically skipped through the snow over to her daughter, who was making tiny snowflakes dance from her fingers for Jason to gawk at, before taking her handing and heading down the sidewalk, giving them one last wave over her shoulder at them.

"Oi, Jason! C'mon we're going inside!" his ass was starting to feel like it was gonna fall off, but he really didn't want to explain to Shrimp why he had just taught their son a new word. Something told him that trying to explain to her that a vital piece of his anatomy freezing and threatening to slip off of him wasn't gonna fly as a proper excuse.

"Okay, Dad!" came the answer, before his son sped by him in a blur. He'd almost forgotten that outside snow jobs meant a reward of hot chocolate in a brat's eyes.


	3. Holidays at the Guild

**I am so sorry for the wait! I just had exams week and so almost all of my time for the past two weeks has been spent studying and doing other basic essentials like sleeping. Not to mention the power kept going out whenever I started to write and it was all just a big headache. I'm still trying to write when I can and I'm so thankful for the patience. It's interesting to write a Christmas fanfic since Christmas has already passed but I don't want this to be left unfinished until next Christmas. Now that the powers back to normal chapters will come out much sooner from now on. I'm hoping to get out one chapter per week so it can be done by the end of February or early March. I know, long time past Christmas but it would feel really weird to leave this unfinished. Please let me know what you think and enjoy!**

 **I am not worthy of claiming ownership of Fairy Tail or any of its beautiful characters. That honor belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

"Mey-rin, can ya stay still for two seconds?"

"But Daddy, Jason poked me!"

"She poked me first!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

Levy rolled her eyes at the ridiculous argument as she slipped her arms into the sleeves of her brown double breasted coat. She glanced over at Gajeel, who had Mey-rin partially in his lap as he was struggling to pull her hat over her wavy, indigo covered head. This was usually an easy task but was now proving next to impossible with her squirming and continuously swiping at her brother while he danced out of her reach just before her tiny hand made contact.

"Jason, don't tease your sister," she scolded lightly. "The longer you to take the less time we're going to have at the guild." She selected her favorite white scarf from the closet and draped it three times around her neck before letting the ends falls over her shoulders where they reached down just below her waist.

She heard a triumphant grunt which she took meant that Gajeel had finally managed to wrestle the hat onto Mey-rin. Turning around she discovered her theory was correct; while it was on sideways and pulled over one of her eyes in was indeed on her head. Now free of her father her little girl stumbled forward and ran to the closet to drag her pink coat off of the hanger.

"Can we go now, Mommy?" she begged, only managing to fit one arm into the sleeve while her other one squirmed around as it tried to dig its way into place. Levy sighed inwardly as she realized she was also putting her coat on inside out.

Levy smiled and helped her daughter out of her coat and slipped her into it the correct way. She brushed her hair away from her golden eyes before readjusting the hat. "Are you ready yet, Lily?" she called over her shoulder.

"Yes ma'am." He replied as he slipped the last of the button of his little jacket into place and turned to fully face them. She took a moment to revel in the absolute, mind blowing _cuteness_ that was their cat; with his little clothes and hat that had holes for his little ears to stick out of!

"You look very cute, Uncle Lily!" Mey-rin announced before rushing over and taking the exceed into her arms.

Levy giggled into her mitten as said cute uncle pouted in the littlest Redfox's arms. She knew that Lily thought that being called anything along the lines of "adorable" or "cute" was very degrading, but he still couldn't deny Mey-rin's affections to save his life; no one could.

She felt a gentle tug on her other hand and looked down at Jason. "Can we please go now, Mom? Everyone's already there, probably." Levy sighed before slipping her hand into her son's and leading the way to the front door. On the way through the kitchen she glanced at the dirty dishes that had been piled with their lunch of grilled cheese and now rested in the sink. She'd take care of those later, she decided as she opened the door. A gust of wind slipped into their home and Levy shivered as she slipped out into the blindingly bright world.

Once on the little stone pathway that led from the front door to the sidewalk she examined the hundreds of multicolored lights that now decorated the white house like fireflies. They were draped across the windowpanes and hung like icicles from the gutters. Although they weren't turned on, she could see the faint taint of red and green in the bulbs and her heart ran marathons when she thought of the way they would shine during the night. She was mildly confused at the sight of some of them being hastily tied to their chimney but shrugged as they made it to the sidewalk.

She couldn't help but examine the other houses as they walked, and she was suddenly extremely glad that almost every family in Fairy Tail lived on their block. It was such a sweet, little area that was only about five blocks away from the guild and was kind of out of the way from the rest of the city. All of the houses looked beautiful with the wreaths decorating their doors, snowflakes in the windows, and snowmen that covered their yards but she still liked theirs best.

Jason pulled his hand out of her own to chase after his sister, who had run off ahead with Lily still in her arms. Levy then wrapped her arms around one of Gajeel's and rested her head against his broad shoulder as they walked.

"The house looks very nice," she complimented, snuggling against his jacket. Even in the middle of winter, he felt unrealistically warm and Levy couldn't resist pulling herself a little closer to him in an attempt to thaw out her freeing nose between the folds of his jacket.

"Gihi, damn straight it does!" he smirked, gently pulling his arm away to wrap it around her shoulders.

"So have you started shopping yet?" she continued. Maybe if he'd actually already gotten everyone gifts, she wouldn't have to worry as much about finishing her own shopping. She had found a few presents for Mey-rin and Jason but she still needed gifts for him, Lily, and lots of their guildmates.

He shrugged slightly, "Lil was gonna go browsing for stuff before ya went all she-devil on him. He was scrubbing dishes like a maniac when we came in. Haven't seen him that freaked out since that hurricane that passed through last year."

Levy couldn't resist the nervous laugh that escaped her. "Oh yeah," she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "sorry about that."

She suddenly felt kinda guilty that she had been so hard on Lily when he'd only been wanting to go look for their presents. She'd make it up to him! She'd bake him all of his favorite kiwi desserts when they got home! She casually looked down as they walked, noting the way the snow dragged and stuck to the tips of her boots with every step she took. It was definitely packing snow, so she could only predict there would be more than a few snowball fights at the guild.

They strolled in silence except for the enthusiastic cries of their children until they reached the guild hall. The entire building was nearly cocooned in bright garland and red and white striped bows that kept everything in place. The sign at the front had been bordered by bright, twinkling lights that Levy had nearly broken her back trying to put up with Lucy and Lisanna. Ladders were apparently very dangerous in the winter.

The inside of the guild was just as decorated as the outside, if not even more so. A wide assortment of tinsel and lights ranging from red to gold been had hung from the rafters along with a various array of ribbons. Each table had been covered with a deep scarlet tablecloth with some holly and a scented candle as a centerpiece. The scent of cider was heavy in the air and the aroma of fresh gingerbread was drifting heavily from the overcrowded bar. Levy caught Bickslow and his babies bobbing along the balcony and hanging a huge wreath that was bursting with pinecones and bows on the center of the railing while Mira instructed them from the bar on which directions to turn it.

The masterpiece was easily the glorious tree standing at the center of it all, casting an almost luminous light on the guild. It's massive boughs were slightly bent under the weight of hundreds of trinkets that had been hung there.

Levy had been so enraptured by the pure beauty of it all that she hadn't even noticed the familiar group of people in her peripheral vision that were waving towards them.

"Levy! Gajeel! We're over here!" Lucy called from the table.

Levy grinned and waved over towards them. Lucy sat on one side of the table with Erza and Jellal, while Gray and Juvia were seated on the other. A plate piled with cookies iced and decorated as trees and snowmen was set down between them, although Erza seemed to be eating all of them at an impressive pace. Next to their table sat Noel and Jellal and Erza's son and daughter: eight-year-old Lowell and four-year-old Reina. Stacks of paper and scissors were scattered along the table for making snowflakes, and the few that had been completed were being hung up on the ceiling by a flying Happy.

"We're coming over!"

* * *

"Mey-rin, you're here!" every hair on Gajeel's body stood up at the voice, and a now automatic growl erupted from his throat as his greatest pain in the ass crawled out from under the table where the rest of the brats had been sitting and ran over towards them. He already hated the brat enough for being around his Mey-rin all the damn time but his irritation at him was intensified tenfold at the fact that he was basically a copy of Salamander with Bunnygirl's hair. They even had the same stupid scarf!

His growling became all the more uncontrollable as Mey-rin let out a little squeak of joy and rushed to meet him. His vision almost blurred with rage as he threw his filthy little arms around her. He was seriously starting to consider the incredibly tempting thought of sending the little bastard careening through the closest window. It was when Aiden's hands went down to her waist so he could lift her up and spin her around that had his vision go as red as his irises and he could only process a few thoughts.

 _Exterminate._

 _Exterminate_

 _Exterminate_

 _Kick his ass._

 _Exterminate_

Some of his unyielding rage faded when he finally let her go, but there was still more annoyance than he knew what to do with when Aiden turned around and raised a hand in greeting to them.

"Hi, Aunt Levy! Hey, Mr. Redfox!" he grinned up at both of them. Gajeel's eye twitched.

He snarled and moved until he was standing right in front of the boy, who was now staring up at him with a nervous smile as sweat gathered near his forehead. He tried to muster up the most intimidating pose he could think of, crossing his arms with his legs placed slightly beyond shoulder length as he towered over the rugrat.

"That's Mr. Redfox _sir_ to you, brat!" he barked.

"Aye sir."

A mysterious hand shot up and grabbed his ear, yanking his head painfully down to face his fuming wife. Her golden eyes that he usually found adorable were hardened with pure disapproval while she kept a firm grip on his ear.

"Be nice!" she lectured as she released him before giving his shin a kick for good measure. Gajeel straightened up and scowled at her for a brief moment before sharply turning his head away with a growl. What was her problem? What the hell had he even done to deserve that from her? All he was trying to do was prevent their precious, innocent baby girl from being stolen away by that little runt!

His gazed reverted back towards his little girl and felt his rage recreate itself as Aiden took her hand and began to lead her over towards the brats' table. Then, the little bastard had the nerve to turn around and cast a smirk at him over his shoulder.

"D-did you just see that!" he gawked, pointing wildly in their direction. Levy turned her head but Aiden carefully schooled his expression into one of pure innocence by the time she saw him.

 _Exterminate_

 _Exterminate_

 _Beat him with an iron bat and leave him for the birds._

"Come now, Levy, take it easy on the man," Lily rationalized, floating near Levy's shoulder. Gajeel smirked, at least he could count on his cat to defend him!

"You can't blame the poor idiot, anyways," Gajeel's smirk instantly disappeared as his jaw dropped. What?

"How does that saying go again?" Lily pondered, rubbing his chin with a black paw. "Men know not what they do?"

"Oi! What the hell, cat?!"

Levy sighed and snuck her little arm around his while she pulled him over towards the other table. "Let's just go to the table and talk with everyone."

Gajeel grumbled and allowed her to tug him along but not before glancing over his shoulder towards Jason who hadn't really moved from the guild entrance and was too busy watching Bickslow nearly fall off the railing to notice him. Gajeel whistled to get his attention and when his head jerked up he gestured towards them with his thumb. Jason looked confused for a moment but after seeing where he was pointing quickly nodded and jogged over to the spot at the table where Aiden had made Mey-rin sit so he could put his ugly mug as close to her as possible.

Gajeel grinned as Jason appeared behind them and forced himself between the two, stiff-arming Aiden in the process. He crossed his arms over his chest triumphantly as Levy forced him to sit down before sitting next to him and talking to Bunnygirl.

"We're definitely coming to your place, Lu!" Levy smiled, grabbing each of her hands.

"That's great, Levy! So it's gonna be you guys, Gray and Juvia, and I'm thinking we should invite Mira and Laxus to come, too!"

Gajeel snorted. "Ya do realize that if they come Salamander is just gonna try to fight him and have his combustible ass handed to him, right?"

"Probably, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't get to enjoy the holidays with us," Lucy shrugged. "Oh! and Erza and Jellal are coming, too," she added excitedly.

"Indeed," Erza interjected, biting the head off of another gingerbread man. "Jellal and I will be providing the strawberry cake for everyone." She grinned and reached into her bag before pulling out several lumpy, almost triangular objects. "I even brought some from home to enjoy here."

"I'm pretty sure strawberry cake ain't a holiday food, Scarlet." Gajeel murmured, eyes slightly widening when she held her bag upside down over the table and about fifteen more slices fell out. How the hell was she keeping all of those in one bag?

Erza turned towards him, her eyes sparkling as she spoke. "Nonsense! Cake is a food meant to be enjoyed throughout the year no matter what the holiday! It is a dessert that pleases the soul and causes joy to spread throughout the world."

"Um hey, Lu, is Natsu here?" Levy asked. Hearing her question, Gajeel took a moment and looked around the guild hall; where was that flame-brained idiot? He wasn't at any of the other tables, at the bar, or even decorating with the other idiots.

Lucy turned around as with a surprised look on her face before looking around as well. "I don't know; he was literally here just a minute ago."

"I saw him get up and leave a few minutes ago," Jellal answered, "I assumed he needed to use the restroom so I didn't say anything about it."

Gajeel took a moment and glanced over to where Jason and Mey-rin were sitting and listened in on what they were saying.

"Jason, I don't think I'm doing this right." Mey-rin sighed, displaying a ruined attempt at a snowflake.

"It's the way you're folding it. Here, it's like this, Mey-rin," Jason explained, folding a new sheet of paper and handing it to her to try again.

"I could've showed her how to do it better," mumbled Aiden, giving Jason a quick kick on the shin.

"Stay away from my sister!" he hissed back, kicking him just as hard.

He was about to let out a satisfied "gihi" when something metal, and cold as immeasurable _death_ , smacked down over his head and blinded him. With a cry he fell backwards out of his seat and landed with thud on the wooden floorboards while slush began to flood into his coat.

"Gajeel!" Levy squeaked.

"Get it off!" he hollered, grabbing the rim of what he had concluded to be a bucket and trying to yank it over his head.

"I'm trying!" she yelled back. He felt pressure around his temple where Levy had grabbed the bucket and ground his teeth together as she tried to yank his head off with it.

"Ow! Be careful!"

"Stop moving!"

"Everyone, hold him down!" Erza ordered. Soon all his limbs were grabbed by unknown guildmates and they began the most sadistic game of tug of war he'd ever heard of.

"I'll get Uncle Elfman!" he heard Mey-rin cry after the fourth attempt. He wanted to call after her and tell her that alerting the monkey-brained mountain benchpresser would probably only succeed in tearing him apart but he was cut off by another onslaught yanking on his lower half.

"Stand back everyone," he heard said benchpresser instruct before feeling two large, strong hands grab onto his ankles. "This is a job for a real man."

 _Shit._

With a cry of "Manly!" Gajeel felt his head fly out of the bucket with an audible "pop" and was sent flying across the guildhall and every ounce of breath was knocked out of him as he collided painfully with a table, snapping it in half on contact. He lay there panting for a few seconds, strands of his hair having fallen out of place and now clinging to his forehead. He barely registered Levy's hands on his shoulder, trying to shake him out of his daze.

"What," he panted, "the _hell_ … was _that_!"

"Oops, sorry about that, Gajeel!" he heard a familiar voice call down from the rafters. Gajeel craned his neck to see a pink asshole dangling his legs over one of the beams; a bucket overflowing with snow in each hand and a straight up moronic grin plastered on his face. "I was aiming for Gray but I guess I missed; my bad!"

"Iron Dragon Club!" Gajeel sent his now steel arm flying in Natsu's direction but, being the slippery little bastard he was, he flipped backwards at the last instant while Gajeel's attack turned the beam he had just been standing on into splinters. He discarded both of his buckets and glared down at Gajeel.

"Hey, what was that for! I told you I was sorry!"

Gajeel was almost positive that the vein that had been bulging in his forehead for the past five minutes was about to explode. "The hell do you think it was for, Salamander?!" he shouted up at him, vaulting over tables and using Elfman's back as a makeshift springboard to rocket up into the rafters. "Stop running! Get back here so I can beat your ass, you idiot!" he grabbed onto one of the beams about ten feet below Natsu and pulled himself onto it.

"Shut up! You're more idioter than me!" Natsu countered with a burst of flames erupting from his mouth that would've probably singed every bit of hair off of his body if he hadn't lunged up and scored a right hook against his jaw.

"That ain't even a word, dumbass!"

"Fight!" Cana cheered from the bar, chucking an empty mug across the guildhall and nailing an unsuspecting Warren in the forehead. The single motion sparked an inevitable brawl that destroyed about five tables and half the bar when a Beast Soul Elfman was launched into it by the joint efforts of Gray and Erza within about thirty seconds. Honestly it was a record for how long they usually lasted.

When the heel of Natsu's boot collided painfully with the back of his head he just had time to glance down and see his boy have Salamander's trapped in a move very similar to a full nelson. He'd never been so proud.

His burst of pride was cut short as a large hand swatted both him and the pink asshole of a guildmate next to him out of the air like flies. Gajeel landed painfully on his ass before a little indigo head appeared at his side and hugged his arm.

"Daddy! Are you okay?" Mey-rin asked.

"Just fine, munchkin." He reassured her, patting her on the head.

"You brats need to learn to control yourselves! I won't have my day spent rebuilding my guild hall so go outside and settle this like adults!" a towering figure appeared over them, casting a vast shadow across the guild hall and an overwhelming presence with it. The same arm that had just knocked both Gajeel and Natsu away as if they were no more than bugs gestured wildly towards the destroyed bar that still had an unconscious Elfman laying in the center of it while Mira and Evergreen tried to wake him up, one using much more slapping than necessary.

"Just look at what you've done! How am I supposed to drink and make merry for the holidays if my precious bar is destroyed because the two of you couldn't keep a leash on your childish antics!" Makarov ranted at the two who returned blank stares.

"Ya do realize that wasn't even us, right?" Gajeel growled.

"Silence, you delinquent!" Makarov interrupted him, pointing an angry finger at him. "All quarrels from here on out are to be settled outside and away from the alcohol!"

"You do realize what this means, Gajeel?" Natsu grinned evilly, one eyebrow raised higher than the other.

"Gihi," Gajeel smirked, "I think I might have an idea, Salamander."

"Snowball fight!" Natsu sang before rushing over to throw both Aiden and Lucy over his shoulder and spurting out of the guildhall.

"Your on, jackass!" Gajeel called after him before scooping his little girl underneath one arm before doing the same to Jason and swinging Levy over his own shoulder.

"Gajeel, put me down!" Levy squeaked, beating her tiny fists against his back.

"Not happening, Shrimp," he glanced over at his cat, "you coming, Lily?"

The exceed shrugged and made himself comfortable on top of one of the tables before taking a kiwi from a bowl he had obtained from the working part of the bar and popping it into his mouth.

"I'll stay here if you don't mind."

"Oh no you're not! No man left behind!" Gajeel grinned before kicking the table over and sending Lily flying out the entrance.

"Get ready to get your ass kicked, Salamander!"

* * *

 **I had the first part of this done for a while with Levy's POV but I felt like it needed to be longer so I put in Gajeel's as well and then I was having so much trouble trying to describe them fighting so yeah I'm glad it's finally done! Hope you all enjoyed!**


	4. Snowball Fights With Fire

**WHAT A WEEK! I was planning on having this done on Wednesday but school had other plans. Horrible, migraine giving plans. Good news is I did well on every exam so great and I got two tests and a giant English project out of the way so that's good. The next update is on Wednesday for sure so yeah hope you enjoy and, as always, please review!**

* * *

"Mommy, is there something wrong with Daddy?" Mey-rin asked innocently while leaning against the forming wall of snow.

"I think your father's rage broke, sweetheart."

"Quit wasting time! If you're talking then you ain't helping." Gajeel growled, packing snow between his hands to form a good sized snowball before iron spikes shot out of it as if it were a riled up hedgehog.

Levy sighed before extending her right hand to trace the letters **S, N, O,** **W** in the air and with a magical tingle running through her hand the word came to life and fell in place over the forming wall of their fort. Mey-rin quickly went to work packing snow in the space between it and the words next to it before she filled in the gap the O left.

"Gajeel, this is silly," she sighed while glancing over her shoulder. "I like snowball fights just as much as the next person, but you're taking this way too far."

"Am not."

"Really now?" she gestured towards the growing pyramid at his knees. "Then how come you keep putting spikes in each of the snowballs?"

"Half of those are Jason's," he retorted as if he were a child who had just been caught red-handed stealing cookies.

"Even worse!" Levy squeaked, snatching the snowball out of his hands and showing it to him. "One of you is going to kill someone!"

"Quit whining."

"Come on, Mom, it'll be fun." Jason shot a toothy grin at her while simultaneously producing a deadly snowball almost identical to his father's, with the exception of it being slightly smaller in size.

"Don't enjoy this!" she squeaked. He wasn't supposed to be interested in fighting until he was at least ten, in her opinion.

"How's it lookin' up there, Lil?"

"It looks like some of the guild has decided to take part." Lily called down to them.

Hearing that Levy straightened up on her knees and strained to see through a space made from one of the S so she could see through the wall. About seven other snow forts were being constructed around them. She saw most of them were simple and almost resembled igloos except for Gray and Juvia's who were making theirs resemble an ice palace from one of Mey-rin's picture books. Levy started to giggle when Noel's head popped over one of the mini towers and the delicate features of her face were contorted into a frown as she swiveled her head back and forth as if she were standing guard.

She caught sight of Natsu and Lucy's and her eyes bulged in her head. It was easily one of the biggest forts, next to Juvia and Gray's, and also shape like a castle. It wasn't the same delicate towers and intricate designs, though. It looked almost like a square with four round guard towers at each corner. The crown jewel of it all was easily the fact that the words " **Blazing Badass!"** had somehow been burned into the front of it.

"Don't care about that. Where's Salamander at?"

"Well it's hard to tell considering Natsu's constructed a fort that's walls are too high to look over."

"Tricky bastard," he growled under his breath. "Can ya fly any higher?"

"I would but considering that you're making all your snowballs resemble the ends of flails I really don't want to put myself in range of whatever Natsu's conjuring up. Knowing him it probably involves something hot and results in a lot of collateral damage." Lily stated.

"It wouldn't be Natsu if it didn't." Levy chuckled.

Just as she said that a snowball flew past Lily's side and nailed Gajeel in the forehead before sending him flying through one of the snow walls and being practically buried by the fluffy powder. It all would've been fine and dandy if it weren't for the fact that the snowball had miraculously been lit _on fire._

"Oh my god, Gajeel!" Levy cried.

A gloved hand shot of of the pile."I hope you realize," his voice muffled through the snow. " _This means war._ "

"Come at me, iron jackass!" Natsu laughed gleefully from his fortress. Immediately following about thirty more snowballs, each one ablaze, were sent careening over the walls.

"Fire Dragon Snow Grenade!" Natsu cried as the onslaught of snowballs increased tenfold and continued to rain on the people around them.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" Gajeel gawked.

"Mey-rin, please hold me!" Lily cried as he flew over to her daughter.

"Okay!" Mey-rin gathered him into her arms as Levy tried to press all of them even further against the wall of the fort as the meteor shower of blazing snowballs continued to rain on them.

"I'm too young to die!" Levy cried as she wrapped her arms around both her children as tightly as she could. She felt Gajeel's own arms wrap around her and the kids are he pulled all of them against him

"Lucy, get him under control!" she heard Gray yell from his fort.

"I'm trying, he's gone absolutely nuts!" Lucy called back. "Natsu! Calm the hell down; you're going to far!"

"Stop? Oh no, I'm just getting started! Come on, you wimps, this can't be all you have!" Natsu cackled.

"Keep it going, Dad! Kick Jason's butt!" Levy heard Aiden encourage him.

"That's the spirit, son! I'm all fired up!"

 _Slap._

Levy flinched at the sharp sound. It took a moment to register that storm of Natsu's snowballs had finally ceased.

"Ow." Natsu mumbled.

"YOU, KEEP YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!" Levy winced and freed her arms to cover her ears while Lucy raged. "AND YOU, DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM!" Levy could swear their fort was trembling from the volume Lucy's voice was reaching. It had to be even worse for Gajeel and Jason, she realized. After all, they had dragonslayer hearing.

"Yes, ma'am," they both whimpered

"See, kids, this is why we don't piss off Bunnygirl," she could practically feel Gajeel's grin.

There was a moment of silence before Levy pulled away and stood up to see over the damaged fort. She noticed a tearful Era emerge from her own thoroughly damaged fort.

"Y-y-you d-destroyed my… strawberry cake," she whimpered as she held up the remains of her satchel which was now little more than some burnt material. She balled it into her fist and when she opened her eyes Levy could've sworn Acnologia had just been reincarnated. A crackling death aura engulfed her and her voice was a mixture of thunder and that of a raging banshee from one of Levy's mythology books.

" **I'LL DESTROY YOU!"** she screamed as the rest of the fabric was reduced to ashes in her mere presence.

"Aunt Erza is flat out pissed!" Jason grinned as he pulled himself out of the family huddle and hauled himself up to sit on top of the snow wall and watch as Erza chased Natsu across the snow and eventually corner him.

Levy was about to reprimand him for his use of unnecessary language but froze when Erza summoned about one hundred of her swords and pointed them all towards a trembling Natsu.

"I'm so sorry, Erza!" Natsu cried, getting on his hands and knees and bowing to her several times.

"Don't you dare try to escape punishment. Die with an ounce of your dignity intact!"

"Who's next?! I'll take on all of you at once!" she began to swing a sword that was twice her size in length as if she were trying to swat bees out of the air.

"Please calm down, Mom." Lowell called, wrapping his hands around her flailing arm.

Erza turned to her brown-haired son. "Not until I've destroyed enough people in retribution for the demise of my precious cake!"

"Mommy, I want to go home now." Mey-rin stated.


	5. Buying Gifts

**This chapter isn't very long or detailed, but I only had like three days to write this so I hope you can all forgive me. I hope you are enjoying this story, and even though the holidays are over, you can always do with a bit of Christmas spirit. Please enjoy and, as always, feel free to review!**

 **I am not worthy of claiming I own Fairy Tail or any of it's wonderful characters. Hiro Mashima holds that great honor.**

* * *

"Daddy, please hurry or it it'll close soon!" Mey-rin tried not to slip as she scurried down the slick sidewalk that ran through one of the busiest, and usually most crowded, parts of Magnolia. Or, at least, it would have been if they hadn't left so early. Which had been really hard since she was still so sleepy after playing at the guild.

"Rin, it's only been open for half an hour." Gajeel called to her, walking next to Jason. "We have plenty of time to look for a present for Mommy."

Mey-rin grinned before running back over to them until she was standing right in front of her daddy. "Yeah, but I want to choose something extra special. So I'm gonna need lots and lots of time or else it won't be a very good present, and I've been saving all my jewel for six months so that I could get her a good one." She explained excitedly. She had even gone on a real job with Lowell and Aiden to fight a giant warthog that had been resting near a school. Lowell had been the one to do all the fighting, but he still gave her four thousand out of the twenty thousand jewel reward.

He grinned and ruffled her hair before turning to Jason. "You got any idea what kinda book you're gonna get her?"

Her twin brother shrugged. "I don't think I wanna get her a book this year."

Mey-rin grabbed his arm to get his attention. "But Jason, Mommy loves books. I know because everyone from the guild always gets her one. And Aunt Lucy lets her read her new novel or the one she's working on early." Her mommy was the only one who got to see the copies of Aunt Lucy's books before they got published.

"Yeah, but that's the point. Everyone gets Mom a book every year and so I wanna get her something a bit more special." He stated before suddenly beginning to mumble. "I don't know, but maybe I could make her somethin'." He said with a shrug

"Like out of iron," Mey-rin smiled up at him. She loved whenever Jason made her toys and other trinkets while using his magic. They weren't all smooth and detailed like her daddy's but he tried his very hardest.

"Well yeah, I guess."

Mey-rin searched her mind for an idea for his gift. If he didn't want to get her a book, then maybe he could get something that had to do with books. "Ooh! You should make Mommy a bookmark; she keeps losing hers!" She bounced up and down on her toes as she told him.

"I'm not sure a bookmark is supposed to be made of iron."

"Oh," she murmured. It could still probably be made out of iron either way, though. It didn't have to be a normal book mark.

Gajeel crouched down next to them before ruffling Jason's hair. "Don't worry about it, I'll help ya figure something out when we get home!"

"Yeah, okay!" Jason grinned.

Mey-rin tugged at his coat sleeve while she looked up at him. "What are you going to get her, Daddy?" she inquired.

"You'll have to wait and see," he shrugged.

"No fair," she mumbled. Gajeel just grinned and lifted her up on his shoulders.

They walked for a few minutes before the small shop where she and her mommy spent a lot of their free time whenever she didn't have work. It wasn't a very large building, infact it looked a lot like a small wood cottage with a sign that had an open book painted on it. Although her favorite part was the lady that owned it.

She patted her daddy's head as they got closer so she could go inside herself, and he gently lifted her down. She laughed and rushed to open the door, knowing exactly which book she would pick out for her mommy.

The inside of the bookstore was warm and well lit by several lamps. Bookshelves lined the walls, all ranging from dictionaries to fantasies. Near the door was a large mahogany desk. It was occupied by a round woman whose silver hair had been tied up in a bun and thick spectacles nearly hid her eyes. But that didn't stop Mey-rin from seeing the happiness that lit them up when she saw her and the rest of her family.

"Ah, if it isn't my favorite family: the Redfoxes!" the older woman smiled at all of them. "So what is it I can do for you lot today?"

"Hi, Mrs. Galata," Mey-rin waved, running right up to her desk. "I need a book for Mommy," she stated.

"Why doesn't that surprise me in the slightest; several other Fairy Tail members have already stopped by looking for the exact same thing." She chuckled slightly.

"Ah! Did they get the new book Mommy wanted? That next one in that series?" Mey-rin prayed that they really hadn't. After all, her mommy had told her about how much she loved that series and couldn't wait to get the next book. It was the perfect present!

"No, a few stopped by asking about it, but I may have hidden it away and told them it was out of stock." Mrs. Galata smiled before opening one of the drawers and pulling out a rather large paperback with a deep navy cover. "I had a feeling you all would come down here so I kept it for safekeeping," she said with a wink.

Mey-rin gasped before accepting it from her. "Thanks, Mrs. Galata!"

"You're very welcome, sweetheart." She gave her head an endearing little pat before turning to her brother. "Jason, dear, can I get you anything?"

Gajeel casually rested his head on top of Jason's head. "This one's making his own gift this year."

"Oh, I see. There's nothing one appreciated by a mother when it's her own son making the gift." Mrs. Galata chirped, "so will that be all?"

"Yeah, at least until next time." Gajeel said.

"All right, that'll be ten thousand jewel."

"Here you go, ma'am." Mey-rin reached into her pocket and pulled out most of the jewel she had stuffed in there. She ended up having to put the book on the ground so she could count up the correct amount of money and place it on her desk.

"Alrighty then, have a wonderful day, dear." Mrs. Galato said, taking the jewel from the table.

"Thank you!" She grinned, imagining all of the pretty ribbons she'd get to tie on the gift, before turning around and rushing out of the store. "Come on, I gotta get home and wrap this!" she called back to her brother and daddy.

She heard Jason call after her as she ran."Wait, Rin! Slow down; you're gonna-" Mey-rin squeaked as she felt her boot skid against a small patch of ice before she was thrown head first into a snowbank twice as big as she was. When she sat up a pile of fluffy powder fell off her head and into the back of her coat, making her shiver uncontrollably.

"Slip."


	6. Sledding Race

**I'm so so so so so so so so so so so sorry for the wait everyone! My computer had problems editing and I feel like I typed this chapter like three times before it stopped glitching out and I had a lot of family plans. Not to mention the past few weeks school has been draining the life out of me with all of these tests and papers that are all due on the same day. Plus I needed to work on some things I've totally been neglecting and for that I apologize greatly! Basically if you've ever stepped on a lego you'll understand how I'm kinda feeling. I really just can't believe how long this thing has taken. It's seriously taught me a few things; make sure you have a set plan in your mind on how many chapters you plan to write and make sure to have a lot of it typed beforehand. I really am sorry because I let time get away from me and there's no decent excuse for that. I cannot believe how much support I got from this story! It actually crossed my mind about deleting it and then reposting it next year so the dates don't look so weird but then I read the reviews and there was no way I could go through with it because they were so sweet. So I'm gonna go with two chapters after this, and the next one will be next week. Be warned the last one is gonna be a biggie! I hope you all enjoy and, as always, please review!**

 **I am not worthy of claiming that I own Fairy Tail or any of its beautiful characters. Hiro Mashima has that great honor.**

* * *

Jason stared at the mangled piece of what was once a block of iron in his hand. With an irritated sigh, he crumpled it up in his hands as if it were a piece of paper and threw it over his shoulder. The 'clink' that metal made when it made contact with other metal was reassurance that he had made it into the wastebasket along with his other failures.

A brief moment later a 'thunk' was heard as a brick sized block of iron landed on the small workbench.

"Ya know, if you keep messin' up you're gonna end up making me use all my magic up." His father grumbled before turning back to his own work.

"Sorry," he mumbled. They'd been down in the basement for at least two hours now. It was actually where he spent the majority of the last ten days with the exception of going to sleep in his room and his mom forcing him outside before he turned into, as she had put it, a spindly pale earth rodent, whatever that meant.

He'd all but exhausted his small amount of Dragon Slayer magic while making gifts for the others. Unlike Rin, he never really saved his jewels and only had about a thousand that he kept stashed underneath his bed. Not nearly enough for a decent gift. So he had settled on just making all of the gifts with his iron. Unfortunately constantly summoning the iron had taken a toll on his body to the point he could barely summon any iron and much less iron that had already been shaped.

He'd had it all planned out: a bobby pin for Noel, a new headband for Rin, a spare pocket knife for Lowell, a bracelet for Reina, and even a flint and steel for that annoying turd, Aiden.

His dad had joined him about five days in, occupying the opposite workbench in the small basement. He'd attempted to figure out what he was working on, but every time he had gotten close he would just cover it up and shoo him away.

Though he'd managed to finish all the other gifts and make them look somewhat decent, he couldn't for the life of him figure out just how to shape the metal right. He stared at the cold block of iron in front of him before taking it in his hands and gently shaping the iron like wet clay. It curved under his fingers as he crafted it and slowly began to take the correct form. He tried to imagine exactly the shape he wanted it in his head in an attempt to convert into the same shape. He began to feel better and better about it with each stroke of his fingers. He could do it; it was going to be perfect this time. He just needed to keep complete focus and-

"Hey, Jason!"

Jason nearly jumped out of his skin at the unexpected cry of enthusiasm, his hands nearly crushing his new creation. He spun around and glared at his sister who stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"Geeze, Rin, you're going to give me a heart attack!" he scowled at her.

Mey-rin simply shrugged before playing with the white bow that matched her dress and kept her hair out of her face. "Mommy says you have to come upstairs and have lunch. Also, Noel and Aunt Juvia came by to tell Mommy that all our friends are going sledding so we have to meet up with them in an hour."

"Have fun and don't break anything," their dad said with his back to them while he worked on his own project.

"Okay, Daddy," Mey-rin smiled brightly. "Come on, Jason!"

Jason sighed before setting his partially completed present at the edge of the workbench and followed his younger sister upstairs.

"So what were you working on?" Mey-rin asked as she folded her hands behind her back while they walked through the small hallway that led from the basement and into the kitchen.

"A present for Mom." He answered her casually.

"What kind of present?" she pressed further.

"A present kind of present." He answered for the second time as they entered the kitchen. His mom was stirring noodles in a pot and seemed not to really notice them. He sat down in his spot while Mey-rin stood next to him.

"I mean what _is_ the present?" she continued clearly starting to get a little annoyed.

"A present." He stated.

Mey-rin scowled at him. "Not funny, Jason," she pouted.

"It's a little funny," he smirked at her. He couldn't help himself when it came to teasing his sister. If it had been other male friends of her's doing the teasing he probably wouldn't be able to stand it but as her twin and big brother of a whopping four minutes he allowed himself the right of teasing.

"Can you _please_ tell me what you're making for her?" Mey-rin whined while lacing her fingers together and clasping her hands under her chin and give him her greatest "puppy eyes" face. It may have worked had he been anyone else, but he'd learned years ago how to avoid falling for the "puppy eyes". The trick was, ironically, not to look her in the eyes. Otherwise you'd stip down to your boxers and walk out on a tightrope over shark infested-waters if that's what she asked of you.

"It's a secret," he explained to her for what felt like the hundredth time.

Mey-rin frowned and looked at him like he'd just disappointed her greatly. "Not you too. First Daddy, and now you. Why doesn't anyone in this house wanna tell me anything?"

The corner of Jason's mouth turned up slightly in a smirk. "Okay, I'll tell you."

"Really?!" she grinned from ear to ear.

"After Mom's opened it on Christmas," he said barely managing to keep a straight face.

"You're such a meanie!" she squeaked before drawing her tiny fist back and punching him in the shoulder.

"Ow! Not nice!" he scowled at her.

Mey-rin opened her mouth to say something but was cut off when their mom set a bowl of noodles at each of their spots before frowning at them."You two, I don't want any fighting this close to the holidays. Now eat up, you're going to have to go soon."

Mey-rin made a point of sticking her tongue out at him, a gesture which he instantly returned, and then scurried into her seat before taking her fork and stabbing it into her noodles and taking a bite.

"So, did Aunt Juvia say who was going sledding?" Jason asked while picking up his own fork and taking a bite, careful to not nibble on the tines even if they did taste delicious. He was one destroyed utensil away from having to spend his own jewels on buying new ones.

"Well Juvia said that it would be you guys, Aiden, Reina and Lowell, and Faye and Kiyomi."

Jason mentally facepalmed himself, he'd _completely_ forgotten about those last two! Looks like he'd have a lot more work to do when he came back from sledding.

"Isn't Noel going too?" he asked through a mouthful of food, trying to change the subject.

"Yes, sweetie, Noel is going too."

"You only asked because you lllliiiiiiiikkkkkkkeeee her," Mey-rin smirked at him in an uncharacteristically evil way, especially for her.

"Who are you, Happy? Should I be listening for any 'aye sirs'?" he snorted, although he couldn't stop the blush that was undoubtedly on his face. He did not _like_ Noel in any way, shape, or form. He just thought she was nice, and that her magic was cool, and she smelled pretty.

"Rin, sweetie, don't tease your brother. Noel is a lovely young girl and I'm sure she'll grow up to be a very wonderful young woman." His mom gently chided before starting to wash dirty dishes from their breakfast.

Jason moaned before resting his head on the table in an attempt to hide the unmanly shade of pink his face was turning. "You're embarrassing me, Mom."

"I'm your mother; that's my job." She informed him casually before placing a clean plate back in the cupboard.

Jason sighed before sitting back up straight and stuffing a forkful of noodles into his mouth. It didn't have to be her job to embarrass him. Why couldn't she just say "Don't tease your brother," and leave it at that?

After a few more minutes of eating he stuffed the last bite of noodles in his mouth and dropped his fork on the table. "I'm finished!" he announced.

"Me too!" Mey-rin echoed.

"Then go get your coats and head over to Lowell and Reina's, and don't forget the sled and to be back by two." She addressed them before resuming her task of cleaning the dishes.

"Yes, Ma'am!" they answered in unison as they carried their bowls to the sink

Jason got to the closet first, and didn't waste any time in grabbing his black snow pants out of the bin they kept on the closet floor and pulling them on. He saw Mey-rin struggling to get on of her feet into her magenta ones and, being the incredible big brother he was, held her underneath her shoulders to balance her until she could shove her foot through the opening. After about two minutes they each their coats, hats, and mittens on and, with a final goodbye to their mom, were out the door.

They ran over to the side of the house where they kept what they considered to be the best sled on the block. While most kids in the area owned plastic, multicolored sleds they had gotten a toboggan which was way faster, and much more fun as long as no one tried to steer it. Then it just became dangerous.

Jason pulled it out of the bushes that aligned the sides of their house by the rope cord tied to the front and they walked off in the direction of their aunt and uncle's house.

Five minutes later both of them stood outside of a house that had been completely covered in candy cane and gingerbread ornaments. Jason even saw little lights shaped like candy canes hanging from their gutters. And was that a strawberry cake wreath? Honestly he shouldn't have expected less from his aunt Erza.

Most of their friends were gathered in the front yard, and all of them smiled and waved when the walked through the front gate. All except Aiden, that is.

"You guys were taking too long, we almost left without ya!" he whined impatiently as he stood behind a red sled.

"Shaddup." Jason growled at him.

"We wouldn't have gone anyways since Faye and Kiyomi aren't here yet." Lowell admitted.

"Ain't this a kinda weird spot to meet up for sledding?" Jason asked. Previous years they all usually met up in a hilly meadow just outside of Magnolia and not really near any houses.

"We're going over to the east side of Magnolia. Since the roads are practically all slopes and hills over there it should be a good place to go."

"Is sledding down streets really a smart idea?" he raised an eyebrow at him. The adults of Fairy Tail already had a pretty bad reputation when it came to damage control, so the last thing they needed was for them to crash through the houses or whatever and have the guild's youngest generation labeled as hoodlums as well.

"There's plenty of fresh snow and no carriages; it's an ideal place if you ask me." Lowell reasoned with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Okay then," he mumbled and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"That scarf is really pretty, Noel!" Mey-rin praised as she looked closer to inspect the new accessory. Jason looked over to see that Noel was no longer wearing her usual gray scarf and that it had been replaced by a brand new white one with an occasional silver or light blue accent stitched into it.

Noel gave her a small smile before nuzzling her face deeper into the soft looking material. "Noel's mommy made it for her."

"Aunt Juvia sure does know how to sew! Maybe she can make me and Jason something." Mey-rin smiled as she carefully held the ends of it.

"Noel thinks she'd be happy to, Rin-chan."

"Oh, Noel, Mom wanted us to thank you all for the strawberry cake mittens you gave her yesterday." Reina said while tucking some of her light lavender hair that was cut in a bob behind one ear.

"Noel will tell her." She promised.

"Not that I'm not enjoying this wonderful conversation about Aunt Juvia's knitting skills, but are we going sledding or not?" Aiden questioned impatiently.

"Sure, I don't see what's keeping us." A voice called over from a few yards away. Jason turned around to see a seven-year-old girl in a white coat with silver hair falling down to the small of her back and piercing blue eyes partially hidden behind bangs and a dark navy hat. At her side was a tiny two-year-old in an oversized pink coat with sandy brown hair in stubby pigtails with soft green eyes. At their feet was a long, plastic yellow sled.

"Well _finally_ you're here! We've been waiting for you guys." Aiden groaned.

"Faye needed to finish her nap, and Uncle Elfman wouldn't let me wake her up early." Kiyomi explained while wrapping her hand around her younger cousin's.

"It doesn't matter why you're late if you're here now. Let's just go so we don't waste any more time." Lowell sighed, reaching down to grab the cord of his sled.

"Why don't we make it more interesting?" Aiden grinned at all of them, one eyebrow raised higher than the other.

"Whad'ya mean by that?" Jason asked.

"The hill by the bank is huge, and since we've got eight people and four sleds, why not have a race down it?" Aiden offered. Jason rolled his eyes. Leave it to that moron to make even the simplest task a competition.

"That's stupid," Jason scowled over at him, "it's way too steep. What happens when someone crashes?"

"What's the matter, Redfox? Scared of having your butt handed to ya?" Aiden sneered while crossing his arms.

"Nah, just that we're gonna have to pick your sorry hide up off the ground and drag ya through the east side of Magnolia to get home." Jason countered.

"Come on, Jason, it'll be fun to race." Rin grinned up at him.

Aiden smirked before quickly walking over. "Exactly, you'll be my partner, won't you Mey-rin?" Aiden grinned taking each of her hands into his. Mey-rin nodded enthusiastically in agreement. The idea of that little turd sitting next to his little sister unsettled his stomach in more ways than one, but before he could a object he felt a gentle tug on his sleeve.

"Um, Jason-kun, would you like to be Noel's partner?" Noel looked up at him shyly with her bright blue eyes before glancing at the ground.

For some reason, Jason felt his mind shut down and a voice that sounded exactly like his own was speaking. "Uh, sure thing,"

"Oh come one, you can't have Noel," Aiden yelled over at them. "She uses Snow Magic; that's not fair in a sledding race!"

"N-Noel isn't going to cheat!" Noel yelled back at him, her firsts balled angrily at her sides.

"Yeah but we won't be able to tell once we start the race, will we?" Aiden asked.

Jason felt immense irritation beginning to build up inside of him. "It was your idea so why don't you just deal with it! It's like you don't even want her to race!" Jason started to pace menacing towards him.

"It's not that I don't want her to race; I just don't want her to race with you!" Aiden growled before closing the the short distance between them and shoved his forehead against his while they glared angrily at each other while growling under their breath. Aiden may have been older than Jason by a few months but he still had a few good inches on him. And this fact definitely didn't go unnoticed by Jason when he smugly noted that Aiden was on the verge of having to stand on his toes as they continued to glower at one another.

"Enough!" Lowell forced his hands between their heads and shoved them painfully back. As he stumbled back, Jason painfully noted that though he looked a lot like Uncle Jellal, Lowell could be just as scary as Aunt Erza.

"I have to go down with Faye because I promised Aunt Evergreen and Uncle Elfman I'd watch her." Kiyomi said, slipping her hand back into her cousin's.

"So I guess that means you're with me, huh big brother!" Reina smiled brightly as she wrapped her arms around one of his.

"How about the losing teams have to buy the winners any kind of hot cocoa and cookies they want?"

"Cookies…." Reina mumbled under her breath.

"Sounds like a plan, let's go then."

Ten minutes later they had reached their sledding destination on the east side of Magnolia. Jason remembered coming here with his parents to run errands several times over the summer but with the fresh powder covering the cobblestone roads and no signs of fresh footprints or the tracks made by carriages, it was nearly unrecognizable. He had remembered how exhausting it had been trying to get up the steep road, and how it was almost impossible not to start running while you made your way down it. But, despite the steepness and awkward angle, apartments and shops were built up and down it so it looked just like the rest of Magnolia.

Although he had been up and down the hill several times it didn't change the fact that it was at a pretty dizzying height, and Jason could tell by the nervous look of some of the others faces as they aligned their sleds across the road that he wasn't the only one who thought so.

"You know I'm starting to agree with Jason; this looks kinda scary." Mey-rin nervously said as she stood next to Aiden.

"Don't worry, if you get scared just hold onto me. I'll definitely protect you." Aiden promised while pointing to himself.

"Okay!" Mey-rin smiled.

"Spare me." Jason growled just loud enough for Aiden to hear.

Aiden scowled and shot him a glare. "Ya got something to say to me, you little punk?"

"Yeah, don't call the guy three inches taller than you _little_." He shot back, resisting the urge to tie him to the toboggan and send him flying down the hill. That way he wouldn't have to hear his annoying voice and it would also keep him away from Mey-rin. It was exactly like that phrase his mom had told him; killing two birds with one stone, or something like that.

"Are we gonna race or not?" Kiyomi called over from her sled where Faye had been settled securely in her lap.

"Come on, Jason-kun," Noel tugged on his arm, trying to pull him towards the toboggan. Jason shot one last glare at Aiden before allowing himself to be lead over to the sled. He sat down in the middle of the toboggan and held the rope cord tightly in his hands. He felt Noel sit behind him and her small arms wrapping around his chest underneath his arms.

Jason looked to his left where Lowell and Reina were in a very similar position on their dark blue sled. Glancing to his right he had to bite down on his annoyance at seeing Aiden wrap his arms around Rin while she sat in front of him. _He was doing it for the hot chocolate. Remember the chocolate._ And on his far right were Kiyomi and Faye.

Lowell looked over at all of them from his sled, "on the count of three," he told them. They all nodded in understanding.

"One." Jason placed one boot on the snowy ground, ready to push off.

"Two."

"THREE!" Aiden cried before speeding down the hill, his hysteric laughter echoes by Mey-rin's giggles.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Reina yelled after them.

"You cheater!" Kiyomi's scream followed.

"I'm gonna kill you for that one, Dragneel!" Jason promised before he shoved off of the snow, starting the toboggans plummet down the street. Suddenly, the trip up the hill suddenly seemed a lot less steep than actually rocketing down it. Jason, who had been very ready to follow through very thoroughly on his threat, now could do nothing but close his eyes as snow and wind stung his face while the sled continued to pick up speed. He couldn't even make any sounds with how tightly Noel's arms had become around his center. It really didn't help considering his lunch was beginning to do somersaults in his stomach.

"Look out!"

Jason cracked open one eyelid which resulted in both his eyes bulging in horror. About halfway down the hill, Mey-rin and Aiden had both somehow been pitched from the sleds and were now piled on top of each other. To make matters worse, he realized he and Noel were making a beeline right for them.

"Get out of the way!" he yelled at them, but judging at how quickly they were closing the distance between them there would be no way they could move before they hit them. Thinking quickly, Jason held the cord firmly in his hands and yanked as hard as he could in attempt to direct the toboggans course away from them. Unfortunately he'd forgotten one thing.

Never steer a toboggan.

It was too late to correct his mistake when the toboggan suddenly jerked ninety degrees to the right and threw both him and Noel into the air. Jason barely had time to register that suddenly his entire world was upside down and spinning before he and Noel crashed into them like a crazed bowling ball would to a couple of defenseless pins. They tumbled over each other for a few seconds before Jason finally landed on his back. The wind was knocked out of him as Mey-rin landed on her behind on top of his stomach before Noel was thrown on her stomach over Mey-rin's legs.

"Are you guys okay?" Mey-rin asked when she finally managed to pull herself up. She'd somehow lost her hat and white ribbon in the crash and her indigo hair swallowed up her head like a giant dandelion.

"Peachy." Jason grumbled, rubbing his sore head.

"Noel is okay, Rin-chan, but where's Aiden-kun?"

"Geht uffe ove meh," a voice mumbled out of nowhere.

"What was that?" Mey-rin asked. Noel shrugged before looking around.

Suddenly, Jason felt something squirming around underneath him, and he looked down to see a gloved hand shoot out of the snow before pounding a fist multiple times into the fluffy powder. He was almost thrown back as Aiden's blonde head shot out of the snow about a foot in front of him.

"Get off of me you baby rhinosaurus! I can't breathe!"

Jason nearly snorted when he realized he'd actually been sitting on his back the entire time, but still rolled off of him. Aiden rose till he was on his hands and knees, panting wildly.

"I seriously thought I was gonna die down there!"

"Pity," Jason said.

"So… who won?" Mey-rin piped up.

They looked down to the bottom of the street to see Kiyomi jumping up in down with her hands in the air while Lowell and Reina were on their knees, wallowing in defeat. Faye was still sitting on the sled, her thumb in her mouth.

Kiyomi suddenly pivoted on her heel so she was facing the rest of them, her hands on her hips while she grinned wildly. "Better get you money out, kids!" she shouted gleefully up at them. "I'm gonna want a lot of whipped cream!"

 **Sorry if there's any grammar errors. I really needed to get this out for obvious reasons. Just to make sure everyone knows Kiyomi is Mira and Laxus' daughter. Yeah, I ship em. And Faye is Elfman and Evergreen's daughter. I also ship them. Hope you enjoyed!**


	7. All I Want for Christmas is You

**So happy this is done! You know what this means folks! One more chapter, and thank all that is beautiful for that because this story has taken up a ridiculous amount of my time up! Hope you enjoy and, as always, please review!**

 **I am not worthy of claiming that I own Fairy Tail or any of its beautiful characters. That honor belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

Levy groaned as she made her way to the kitchen, gripping the railing so hard her knuckles turned white as she walked down the stairs. A complete month of absolutely no coffee was finally taking its toll on her. Mey-rin had specified to the entire family that no one, absolutely no one, was to drink any form of beverage other than hot chocolate and water. And to guarantee this their daughter had actually hid all the coffee beans they owned. She'd agreed at the beginning of it all, thinking her daughter's obsession to make every aspect of their daily life revolve around Christmas was simply beyond adorable, but now it was starting to feel as if someone had hit her with a sledge hammer upside the noggin.

The first few days after Mey-rin had hid the coffee hadn't been fun; she'd wake up cranky and have a headache, or it would even go as far as giving her nausea and stomachaches. It was like having a hangover in some ways. After the worst of it passed she had started feeling a little bit better until about one week ago.

She'd been at the guild with Lu and Juvia, talking about what kind of presents they were buying, when Mira showed up. In her hand had been a giant cup of steaming straight black coffee; it smelled _heavenly_. Even though Levy usually enjoyed hers with a small helping of cream and sugar, the coffee Mira had seemed to serenade her; begging her to indulge in it's delicious, caffeinated _gloriousness_.

It had become even worse when both Lucy and Juvia decided to go up to the bar and get themselves a cup, and when Lucy had asked Levy if she'd wanted one she'd had to politely turn it down even though the rest of her wanted to dash up to the bar, order the strongest coffee they had, and chug it down with a vengeance.

Now, it seemed as if everyday one or more of her friends had coffee of their own whenever she met up with any of them. The smell had become so intoxicating her withdrawal symptoms had actually returned.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she ran her hands through her tangled cerulean locks, massaging her aching temple.

She. Needed. _Coffee_.

She wandered into the kitchen, hoping that some toast and strawberry jam would somehow distract her from her crazed caffeine cravings. Gajeel was sitting at the kitchen table, holding a mug of hot chocolate in one hand while resting his chin in the other. Upon seeing her in all her disheveled glory, he instantly cracked a grin while looking her up and down.

"You look like crap," he snorted.

"Love you, too," she growled back. He simply shrugged, and took a swig from his mug.

She walked past him to get to the pantry and get out a slice of bread, but as she was fiddling with the twist tie a strange scent wafted into her nostrils. She inhaled deeply, and the aroma of straight black coffee wafted into her nostrils. She glanced behind her, where Gajeel was still sitting. She quickly ran her eyes over him, and then finally her eyes drifted to the mug. She felt gears turn in her head before she felt a click as pieces fell together.

"How long?" she ground out.

Gajeel looked up at her, a pierced brow raised in confusion. "How long what?"

"How long have you had it?" Levy said through clenched teeth.

"You're gonna have to be a bit more specific, Lev."

" _That!_ " she pointed at the mug in his hands. "How long have you had _that_?"

Levy saw Gajeel momentarily tense up, before he looked away, refusing to meet her glare. "It was in the pantry, I'm sure there's some more if you want so-"

"DON'T PATRONIZE ME, YOU BIG LUG!" Levy cut him off angrily, stamping her foot against the hardwood floor. "That's not hot chocolate, and you know it. Now you're gonna tell me how long it's been there and how long you've been holding out on me! But before any of that, you're gonna give me that mug and let me have the rest!" Levy felt hot anger boiling up in her like a volcano on the verge of eruption. How dare he be drinking coffee after she'd been suffering for almost a month without it!

"I've got a really good explanation for this." He finally admitted nervously, still not completely looking her in the eye.

"You're gosh darn tootin' right you do!" Levy shot back. "Because if you don't, I'm gonna tell Mey-rin you broke your promise!" Levy admitted to herself that might be a bit harsh, but still you don't hide coffee from your wife; you just don't!

Gajeel stared emptily at her for a few seconds, while Levy tapped her foot impatiently. "I think I hear Lily calling me," he said before abruptly standing up and trying to make his escape out of the kitchen.

"Oh no you don't!" Levy rushed after him, catching up after about six big strides, and launched herself onto his back. She wrapped her legs around his center and wrapped an arm around his neck while she tried to grab the mug out of his hand. "Give me that!"

"No way!" Gajeel tried to use his free hand to pry her legs off but she tightened them around his stomach. "This is mine, get your own!"

"Not happening Gajeel!" she strained her arm as far as she could reach, but he still managed to hold it out of her reach. Curse her short arms.

"You're acting like a little kid!" he yelled at her, giving up on her legs and now reaching behind him and trying to grab hold of her shirt.

"And you're acting like a big bully who denies little kids their coffee!" she squirmed around as she gave another swipe at the mug. Grunting slightly, she swung the arm she had wrapped around his neck onto his arm and lifted herself to the side by pressing down on it. It gave her just enough reach that she could grab onto the mug and land on the floor with a victory squeak.

"Ha! Success!" she giggled madly before taking a huge sip out of the mug. She could barely stop herself from moaning in relief.

 _Oh, sweet mercy that's good._

"But seriously, how did you get this?" she asked him.

"I may of may not have found about three bags of coffee beans hidden underneath Lily's bed last week." He grinned slyly at her.

"And you didn't think to include me on this?" she asked, she still couldn't believe that he'd left her to suffer from coffee withdrawal by herself.

"Nah, not really." He shrugged.

"I hate you so much sometimes. You can be so mean to me." Levy pouted, looking down into the coffee cup. She raised it to her lips again and downed the rest of it in one big gulp.

"Oh come on, Shrimp, I let you have some didn't I?" He ruffled her hair, grinning down at her.

"After I climbed you like you were a jungle gym and snatched it out of your hands." She said wryly, handing him the empty mug.

He smirked at her again before taking the mug over to the sink and setting it down on the counter.

"So… what are your plans today?" she asked him

He shrugged. "Not much, probably gonna hang out here most of the day. You?"

"I need to go out shopping and buy a few last minute things. I still need to find presents for a few people before it's too late." She admitted, walking back over to the pantry and getting her slice of bread. She had gifts for almost every single one of her friends, but there were some things she was having a particularly hard time finding. Her friends had peculiar tastes in gifts.

"Does that include me?" he interrupted her thoughts. He opened the refrigerator, and took out the strawberry jam.

She walked over to him and took the jam when he handed it to her. "I couldn't tell you that even if I wanted to." She smiled up at him.

"Why not?" he asked her, his voice coming close to resembling something similar to a whine.

"Because that's cheating, mister." She poked him playfully in the chest. "You can't find out what I got you until Christmas."

"So you _did_ get me something?" he asked innocently.

"I never said that," she walked over to the drawer, took out a knife, and started to spread the jam across the bread's surface. She wasn't really in the mood to wait for it to toast.

"You are so _weird_ sometimes," he groaned in annoyance.

"And that's why you love me," Levy sang as she walked up to him, and brushed a kiss against his cheek.

Taking a bite out of the bread, she walked over to the closet. And after putting the entire slice in her mouth, she managed to pull her coat on and wrap her scarf around her neck.

"I should be back in an hour; don't break anything while I'm gone." She said as she walked through the kitchen. Gajeel was now sitting at the table once more, with a bowl of cereal at his place. Levy couldn't say she was surprised when she saw a few iron screws among the breakfast. Her husband was a strange one.

"You say that as if you expect me to do just that. I ain't Salamander, last I checked." He snorted.

Levy didn't say anything, but just gave a final wave as she made her way out of the house.

* * *

Levy sighed as she walked around the streets of Magnolia, which were packed with shoppers even at the early hour. It would appear she wasn't the only one who needed to get some last minute errands done. A few bags hung from her arms, all things she had picked up at several different stores. She was about to head home when a familiar blonde head appeared in the crowd.

"Levy!" Lucy called, running towards her. Lucy's long hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and she had a new light brown duffle coat on. About four bags hung in each of her hands, overflowing with a wide array of gifts.

"Oh hey, Lu," Levy smiled at her, "what's up?

Lucy returned the smile before holding up the bags she was carrying. "Just getting some last minute shopping done. What about you you?"

"Same."

"Do you need any suggestions on what you want to get for some people?" Lucy asked her.

Levy shook her head. "Nah, I'm good, but thank you." She'd already found out just what she'd wanted to get each person.

"No problem!"

"You know, I still can't believe you guys aren't spending Christmas at Fairy Tail with everyone else. I mean, it's gonna be weird without you guys. You aren't even hanging out with Jet and Droy at all." Lucy said suddenly. Levy gave a small smile, she couldn't remember a year where they hadn't spent the holidays with them. But they each had their own girls to spend time with now.

"Yeah, but Jet and Droy are spending Christmas with Lilith and Erica at Mermaid Heel. Besides, we are going to your place for dinner, so it's not that big of a deal."

"But it _is_ , Lev," Lucy insisted. "Seriously, you guys are family: you, Mey-rin, Jason, Gajeel, and Lily. I don't think you even know how awkward it probably will be when you guys aren't there."

Levy suddenly felt sort of guilty for not really taking the rest of her friends' feelings into perspective. All she wanted was a nice quiet Christmas at home, but still it would be weird if they didn't see the others at the guild at all.

"Well, Gajeel and I were talking, and we may stop by to say hi to everyone, so there's a possibility we may be there for a little while." She admitted to Lucy. They hadn't talked much about it really. It would just be a quick hello if they really did, and it would only be to see Master Makarov and a few other people who weren't going to Lucy's

"I really hope you do decide to stop by, Levy. All of you." Lucy said before giving her friend a hug goodbye.

As Levy headed home, she realized that, right then and there, that was all she wanted for Christmas.

* * *

 **I have no clue if the coffee stuff with the symptom stuff is true, but let's pretend it is. Hope you enjoyed!**


	8. A Visit From Santa Claus

**Alright, this isn't the last chapter. I know that I said there would only be one more chapter and I would finish this but it's such a big one, and I mean a really big one, that I'm gonna need a little more time with it. It should only be a little while longer because I'm close to getting it done. In the meantime, enjoy this extra little chapter that I typed up with hopes that it makes the wait easier. It's also a bit of an apology for having a seriously unpredictable schedule. I've been having a bit of a tough time at school (not with grades because I'm sorta nerdy) and have had an extremely packed summer and had to spend a lot of it without any wifi and there were other weeks with really poor wifi and that all that has made it really hard for me to type up chapters and I am so so so grateful to everyone who has been so patient and understanding. And I wish I could keep a schedule that didn't involve me having to put a bunch of things off because it really isn't fair of me to keep everyone waiting. I hope you enjoy and feel free to review to tell me if you like it!**

 **I am not worthy of claiming that I own the masterpiece that is Fairy Tail of any of it's glorious characters. Hiro Mashima holds that great honor.**

* * *

"This has got to be the most embarrassing, shameful, _mortifying_ thing I have ever down for this family."

"Okay put a sock in it, _Santa_ ,"

Lily turned around to glare at him. "I have a divine right to complain and you know it! Besides, this thing itches like crazy." He declared, while tugging at the baggy red pants.

"Are you sure it isn't because your head isn't screwed on just right?" Gajeel asked him, raising a brow.

"Gajeel…" Lily warned.

"Or maybe, is it that your shoes are too tight?" he continued innocently, barely containing the cackle that was building up inside him.

"Gajeel, I'm gonna stuff your iron ass up the chimney if you crack another Grinch joke." Lily turned his head and shot him a seething glare that probably would've passed for intimidating if it hadn't been for the giant santa hat.

"Alright, alright," Gajeel grinned, putting his hands in the air to surrender. "I just don't see why you're complaining so much. I mean, I wore it last year, Lil, it's not that bad." It was true, the thing had itched like hell, but had definitely been worth it to walk into his bedroom and find Levy in nothing but a matching red bra and panties. Not that his cat needed to know that. "After all, it is a family tradition."

"I don't care if it's a tradition; it's cruel and unusual and these pants are starting to really hurt." Lily grumbled angrily.

"You're being overdramatic and you know it." Gajeel scoffed at him, reaching back into the sack and placing a small gift next to the fireplace.

"Let's just set these out so I can get back to bed." Lily grumbled. Gajeel rolled his eyes in annoyance. Since when had his cat been such a grump? His ears pricked up at a small noise overhead.

 _Thump._

"You hear that?" he asked Lily. The exceed straightened up and shook his head.

"No."

 _Thump._

There it was again! This time it was much closer to the stairs, he noted.

 _Thump._

 _Thump._

 _Thump._

 _Thump._

"Shit!" he whispered loudly, recognizing the sound as someone coming down the stairs.

"Hide," Lily hissed at him. Gajeel surveyed the living room, where the hell was he supposed to go?! At the last moment, he dove behind the couch and rolled into a somersault when he landed, nearly knocking his head against the lower branches of the Christmas tree, before he leaned back against it.

"Santa?" a small voice asked from the front of the living room. Gajeel crouched forward to peer over the side of the couch. Mey-rin stood at the bottom of the stairs, gripping a stuffed dragon loosely by the paw. Underneath the tangled mess of indigo hair he could see to golden brown eyes staring owlishly at Lily.

Lily bristled at the voice, and turned his head slowly to look over at her. "Um… yes?"

Of all of the thoughts that ran through Gajeel's head, they all seemed to lead back to the same, seemingly unavoidable conclusion.

They. Were. _Doomed_.

The next moments were agonizing; watching her blankly stare at Lily while simultaneously thinking of all the absolutely _unspeakable_ things his wife would do to them if they were found. Last time he'd gotten her really pissed off at something involving the children had ended up with both Elfman and Laxus barely managing to restrain her long enough for him to get away. It wasn't his fault that Jason had gotten into a fight with Aiden and called him a sack of maggot shit. Granted, he had taught him that word, and, granted, it had been hilarious.

"Are you here to give us our presents?" she finally asked, tilting her head to the side.

Okay, this didn't seem right. Even if it was dark Gajeel himself could still definitely tell it was Lily in that costume, so how could Mey-rin not? He looked her over from his hiding spot. He noted the way she was barely gripping her stuffed animal in her tiny fist, the huge dark circles underneath her eyes, and how she kept swaying on her feet. He finally made his conclusion.

His little girl was totally, undeniably, dead on her feet!

"T-that's exactly right, Mey-rin!" Lily stuttered nervously.

"Oh, wow, you know my name?" she asked as excitedly as any exhausted little kid could.

"Of course, I know the names of all the girls and boys; good and bad." Lily said with almost a little too much enthusiasm. Gajeel would've faced palmed if there wasn't a chance Rin would've heard it.

"Did you get the picture I drew you?" As if on cue, Gajeel leaned some of his weight onto his other hand and felt paper crumble underneath it. He looked down to see a piece of paper with a very misshapened Santa Claus standing next to an equally misshapened christmas tree drawn on it in marker.

"Um, yes it was very sweet," Lily told her.

"You look like my Uncle Lily," she stated, cocking her head to the side while examining the exceed in front of her.

"Ummmm… is that so?" Lily rubbed the back of his head. Mey-rin peered at him for a few more seconds.

"Are you related?" she finally asked.

"Something like that..." Lily explained to her.

"I should go get my brother, Jason. He'll want to see you too, Santa." Mey-rin dazedly turned around to wander out of the room towards the stairs.

"NO!" Lily said rather loudly, catching both Mey-rin and Gajeel by surprise. Mey-rin turned around and cocked her head in curiousity.

"But why not?" she asked.

"Um, because no one is supposed to see me. That's why I come when you're all asleep." Lily explained in a much quieter tone, bending down as he addressed her. Mey-rin frowned for a moment, as if considering something very important, before her eyes wandered the room and bulged near the spot where Gajeel was hiding. _Shit._

"Oh, no!" Mey-rin squeaked as she dropped her stuffed animal and rushed over to the couch before climbing on top of the cushions and leaning over the arm, holding one of the Christmas branches in her tiny little hands. "One of the pretty bulbs won't light!"

Relief washed momentarily washed over Gajeel that he hadn't been discovered, but he was still far from calm at just how close she was to him at this point. Sure the dark kept him mostly concealed, but one wrong move from him or a turn of her head, and he was absolutely, without a doubt, _screwed._

Unhelpfully, he did notice that one of the multicolored lights-a red one-that practically mummified their tree had blinked out.

"Oh, now, it's nothing to worry about," Lily said moving quickly over to stand next to Mey-rin. "It's nothing that can't be fixed," he told her gently. Lily carefully picked Mey-rin up and set her back down on the floor several feet away.

"Now, then why don't you go on back to bed and I'll fix your light for you."

"Really, you will?" Mey-rin gazed up at him adoringly.

Lily smiled and gently patted her head. "You have my word."

"Okay, Santa, goodnight." She chirped quietly before leaving, dragging her stuffed animal with her. The next few seconds of the dull thumping sounds of Mey-rin's feet against the stairs which were followed by silence were deafening.

Eventually Gajeel decided it was safe enough to move and came out from his hiding spot. "That was _way_ too close," Lily sighed in relief.

"I can't believe she didn't say anything; it was like she was still asleep!" Gajeel noted. Considering the fact that Mey-rin was usually pretty observant in general would've made it funny if he weren't so busy fearing for his life.

His heart rate was finally calming down into a normal speed when he heard the dreaded sound once more.

 _Thump._

"You gotta be shitting me," he hissed under his breath.

 _Thump._

 _Thump._

 _Thump._

"She's coming back!" Gajeel hissed as he tried to keep the panic out of his voice. Why couldn't she just go to bed and go to sleep already?!

"Move it!" Lily growled, using much more force than necessary to shove Gajeel back behind the couch. "Don't let her see you!"

"Santa?" He heard Mey-rin say timidly. He pushed himself off his rear where he landed and settled on his knees so he could comfortably peer out at them.

"Y-yes, dear?" Lily answered her.

Mey-rin stood there for a moment before hugging her stuffed animal to her chest and saying sheepishly. "I almost forgot; I came down to get a glass of water."

Lily walked over to her carefully before giving her an almost hesitant pat on the head. "Oh, alright then. Go get your water and then back to bed with you. After you're asleep I'll finish setting up your presents."

"Okay," she chirped dreamily before slowly making her way into the kitchen. After a few seconds of silence, Mey-rin came out with a mug in her hand and she gave a final wave to Lily.

"Goodbye, Santa, Merry Christmas." Mey-rin murmured as she made her way up the stairs.

"Goodbye, sweetheart." Lily smiled up at her before she disappeared.

They waited for a few minutes after that, but after no signs of adorable little girls coming down the stairs any time soon, Gajeel finally came out once more from behind the couch.

"I have no idea what you plan on doing with yourself now, but I am going to take this ridiculous outfit off and go to bed." Lily told him in a clearly irritated voice with a little too much authority for his liking.

"Sorry, but you're job ain't over yet. You still gotta change the light like you promised Rin you would." Gajeel snickered at him. After all, he wouldn't be doing his job as a parent if he didn't make sure his cat didn't keep his promise to his little girl.

"So help me, Gajeel, I will shank you with an icicle, you giant iron asshole." Lily seethed at him.

Unbeknownst to them, high on the Redfox's roof that night, bells jingled lightly in the wind as hooves landed softly on the snow covered roof. A plump, jolly looking man released his hold on leather reins before scratching his snow white beard while leaning comfortably against the back off his sleigh.

After a few moments of peaceful silence, he reached forward and opened a hidden slot near the bottom of his sleigh. He gripped the end of a small tab and pulled, watching as an impossibly long scroll rolled out of the seemingly small compartment.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out an old pair of spectacles and ran his eyes down the list until they reached the middle of the 'R' section.

 _ **Jason Redfox: Magnolia**_

 _ **Mey-rin Redfox: Magnolia**_

"Amateurs," he murmured under his breath as he pulled out a quill and placed a check next to each of their names.

Releasing the little tab, the list rolled itself back up and he closed the little compartment. Gathering the reins into his hands, he urged his reindeer forward into the snowy night.


	9. Deck the Halls With Friends and Family

**OMIGOSH! IT'S OVER! PRAISE ALL THAT IS GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL! You have no idea how glad I am that I can finally say that this over now. It was fun to write and I loved writing about Gajeel and Levy being parents, and I loved creating Mey-rin and Jason because I find them just adorable, but this was a real time consumer and I'm so happy that I can start working on my other work which I've been terribly neglecting.**

 **I know that I started this last Christmas and it seems really weird, but a bit ironic and appropriate for me to be writing about it now and even though I wanted it to be over in like March or something it still took this long. Probably my fault though. I got a lot, and I mean a lot, of writer's block working on this and there were all these other distractions that made it hard for me to work on this.**

 **I am super thankful for the support I did get for this story and how patient people have been with me. It really means so much to me and no matter how many times I say it it still feels like it's not enough. I mean it, guys, thank you so much! Hugs to all you beautiful people!**

 **Please leave a review telling me what you thought about this story. I'm all ears for what you guys have to say and I love hearing about what you liked in the chapter or the story itself so I can incorporate more of that into what I write. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be singing Kumbaya in the corner because I am that glad that this is done. Don't judge me, writing this story drained me both physically and mentally.**

 **PLEASE ENJOY!**

 **I am not worthy of claiming that I own the masterpiece that is Fairy Tail or any of its glorious characters. That honor belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

 _Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!_

Levy groaned and reached her arm out towards the nightstand, fumbling around until she found the sought button and turned the alarm clock off. Once that was done, she pushed her cerulean locks away from her eyes and rubbed her crusty lids. She turned back onto her side, smiling at the still-sleeping figure beside her. Gajeel's tan muscled back was facing her, and she reached out and kneaded the spot between his shoulder blades with her thumb in slow, circular motions.

"Merry Christmas," she barely whispered.

As if on cue, a squealing Mey-rin threw open their door and rushed into their room, wild indigo locks tangled into a monstrous bed head. Levy couldn't say she was one bit surprised at that, what did catch her off guard was when Jason ran in behind her, just as enthusiastic as his sister, but without the crazy hair, of course.

Levy gasped as they yanked themselves onto the bed before rolling on top of her and starting trying to get her out of bed in a very not so gentle manner. A pack of wild animals might've been gentler compared to those two.

"Mommy, Daddy, you gotta get up now!" Mey-rin yelled just a little too close to her ear as she bounced up and down on her knees.

"Come on it's Christmas, you gotta move!" Jason started shaking her shoulder mercilessly.

Just as Levy was about to yank the covers over her head to escape the two little ruffians she was raising, an arm wrapped around both twins, and yanked them down onto the mattress. Levy tried not to giggle as Gajeel held both children against his chest, snoring loudly.

"Hey, Dad, that's not fair!" Jason whined, trying to squirm his way out of the strong grip with no success.

"Mommy, please make Daddy let go! We have to open our presents!" Mey-rin begged.

Levy chuckled lightly before shrugging, "I'm sorry, but we can't open any presents until Daddy's up."

Both twins looked at her as if she'd just suggested they serve broccoli for dessert for the next year, or something as equally horrific, and started kicking and writhing around in an attempt to wake a 'sleeping' Gajeel.

"Dad wake up now! It's not funny you gotta wake up right now!" Jason demanded angrily.

"Still sleeping," Gajeel murmured.

"No you're not; you're talking!" Jason scowled accusingly at him.

"Sleep talking."

"Alright, Gajeel, you've had your fun, let them go." Levy chided him.

Gajeel grinned cheekily before releasing them, and they each sat up and gave him cross, unamused looks. Well, cross wasn't really the right word for it. Mey-rin looked like she was pouting and Jason just looked ticked.

"That wasn't nice, Daddy," Mey-rin scolded, folding her little arms over her chest while her cheeks puffed out.

"Okay, guys, give Mommy and Daddy five minutes, and then we'll come down stairs and you can open up your presents." Levy addressed them, stretching out underneath the covers, her body felt strangely stiff after such a good sleep.

"Okay! Come on, Jason!" Mey-rin tugged on her brother's sleeve as they jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. Levy almost laughed as she all but dragged her twin brother through the doorway. Her daughter may be small for her age, but she was definitely a tough little munchkin when she was determined.

When the door closed behind them, Levy pushed herself up into a sitting position and reached her arms up above her head as she stretched them out. She couldn't help but glance out the window and noticed a new, fluffy blanket of snow had draped itself over the neighborhood.

She didn't feel the bed shift before a strong wrapped around her midsection and pulled her back down onto the mattress and held her there.

"Oh, come on, Gajeel!" she began to protest as he playfully nuzzled her neck. "We don't have time for this right now!"

"Five more minutes," he said stubbornly, holding her tighter. Levy felt a vein bulge near her forehead. Why did her husband have to be so gosh darn stubborn?

"That's how long I told Rin that she'd have to wait before we can open her and Jason's presents!" she reminded him as she tried unsuccessfully to push him away. "Do you really want to make her wait longer?"

Levy knew very well by now that if she had to list all of the things that Gajeel absolutely hated with a passion, letting down his little girl was definitely high on that list. Gajeel gave her a near mortified expression and he immediately let go of her and swung himself out of bed.

"Seriously, Shrimp, I don't see why ya gotta try an' distract me with your vexing ways like that when our kids are waiting on us." He scolded her, crossing his arms.

Levy sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever, ya big lug."

Five minutes later, Levy was nestled on the couch in their living room. A light blue bandana covered in snowflakes was now tied around her head to keep her hair out her eyes. Jason, Mey-rin, and Lily (who had downed an ugly Christmas sweater per Mey-rin's request) all sat on the floor picking through the vast amount of presents that had been scattered around the tree and fireplace. Gajeel sat next to her on the couch, helping himself to the plate of Christmas cookies on their coffee table.

"You know," Mey-rin said, holding up a Santa cookie. "This doesn't look like Santa Claus at all."

"What do ya mean?" Jason asked as he picked out a present-a bright blue one with yellow ribbons-and placed it in his growing pile.

Mey-rin shrugged as she bit into the cookie and chewed thoughtfully. "Well, he's not fat or jolly; he's actually really tall and muscular. Also, his voice is much deeper than I always thought."

Levy felt quiet shivers of foreboding racing down her back in waves as she listened to her daughter. And she could almost feel the nervous aura radiating off of her husband.

"How do you know that, Rin?" Jason asked her, now clearly interested.

"It's because I saw him," she chirped.

Levy's eyes bulged and Gajeel choked on his cookie, sputtering incoherently as he tried to get his airflow working correctly. Levy felt her lips turn up in a tight smile as she stared down at her daughter.

"He looked a lot like Uncle Lily, too! He even said they were related!" Mey-rin continued before pointing enthusiastically towards the Christmas tree. "He also fixed one of the broken lights on the tree! Just like he said he would!"

"No way!" Jason gawked.

"Is that so, sweetheart?" Levy asked her daughter in a dangerously calm tone. Mey-rin nodded enthusiastically in response. She turned her head towards Lily, who looked as if he were trying to shrink himself into the floor to avoid her gaze. She'd warned him plenty of times to make sure he was absolutely silent during the night and not cause any disruption that could possibly besmirch her babies' innocence and he went and pulled _this!_

 _She was gonna light that useless little piece of fur on fire while making him watch all the kiwis in the house slowly decompose. And she was gonna laugh while she did it. That would learn that unreliable traitor of a cat._

"Mommy, can we open our gifts now?" Mey-rin gazed up at her with big, watery eyes in anticipation.

Levy broke her death glare for a moment to smile and nod enthusiastically at her daughter. "Oh yes, of course, sweetheart! You two can open up all of your presents now."

Both twins grinned enthusiastically before tearing into their gifts; sending wrapping paper and ribbons of widely varying in colors flying this way and that across the living room to unveil the hidden treasures underneath.

Levy smiled at the surprised and elated looks on her babies' faces as Mey-rin lifted up beautifully dressed dolls and new books and Jason opened up a new soccer ball and an airplane that was controlled by a special remote lacrima. She felt her heart start to melt with purified joy when they each selected the presents she'd been most excited about. She tried to get them a wide variety of presents whenever the holidays and their birthdays rolled around, but she always tried extra hard to find one specific present that they each would absolutely _adore_.

Her smile was almost beginning to hurt when Mey-rin carefully undid the golden ribbon wrapped around a small pink box, and Jason tore off the green wrapping paper of a slightly larger one. Mey-rin squeaked with joy as she opened the box to find a light pen inside. It wasn't like Levy's since Mey-rin wasn't anywhere near ready for that (she'd learned that the hard way when she allowed her to borrow hers during bath time and the whole house was flooded with the words _bubbles_ and Mey-rin had to take a sixteen hour nap because she'd been so exhausted), but it did allow her to write in the air or on surfaces. And it glowed!

Jason was already pulling on a brand new pair of iron studded gloves. His older ones had been falling apart and wearing very thin so she'd found him a more durable pair.

The sweet moment turned slightly awkward when Lily suddenly ripped open a sack of rare (and very expensive) kiwis grown on Galuna Island and broke down into a blubbering mess as he shoved the fruit in his mouth while simultaneously sobbing happy tears.

"Do you want to open up your present now, Mommy?" Mey-rin asked her sweetly.

"No, it's alright, sweetie, Daddy and I are going to open up our presents at Aunt Lucy's tonight." Levy explained to her. Since every year they always got gifts for each other, Levy and Gajeel decided they might as well wait until the party later.

Mey-rin nodded in understanding before taking her new light pen and drawing the word _present_ in the air. It hovered in the air, glowing a faint light blue for several seconds before fading.

"Jason, did you figure out what you were gonna get for Faye and Kiyomi yet?" she asked her son. She knew he'd been practically scrambling around the house for the last three days trying to finish up their presents. It really touched her heart that her little baby boy would go through all the trouble to make his friends gifts without asking for anyone's help. What a precious little angel!

"I fixed up my old jack in the box for Faye, and I made a necklace for Kiyomi." He explained to them while still examining his gloves.

"Oh, I almost forgot something!" Mey-rin gasped before jumping to her feet with great enthusiasm. She rushed over to Lily, and grabbed him up into her arms. "Come on, Jason, and you too, Uncle Lily, you gotta help me something in the kitchen!" she stated as she physically tore the poor feline away from his beloved fruit. Her brother got up as well and trailed after them.

"Merry Christmas!" Mey-rin and Jason chanted gleefully as they reappeared into the living room. Levy was slightly confused at first but then Lily reemerged from behind and she saw _stars_. Because behind her beautiful little girl, and her handsome little boy, was her adorable cat. And in her adorable cat's paws, was a tray. And on that tray, there were mugs. And in those mugs, those beautiful steamy mugs, was _coffee_.

Although she had been sneaking the heavenly drink in small amounts for the past couple days, the fact that her little girl and boy, and cat, had actually made her and her husband _coffee_ on Christmas morning brought happy tears flooding into her vision.

Springing from the sofa, she rocketed forward to wrap her arms around her babies and lifted them up in a tight hug. "I love you both _so_ much," she mumbled as she squeezed them. She peered over their shoulders and into the steaming mugs, her mouth watering when she saw the pale cream floating on the dark surface of one of the cups. " _Soooooo_ much."

"I love you too, Mommy!" Mey-rin giggled.

"You're crushing me," Jason groaned under his breath.

"Shush, let your mother smother you with her love!" Levy squeezed them both even harder.

Moments later, she was settled back on the couch, partially leaning into Gajeel's side, as she cradled the warm mug in her hands. She giggled under her breath as she inhaled the delicious aroma.

"You're acting like a nut right now, you know that?" Gajeel snorted at her.

Levy stuck out her tongue at him. "I don't care what you say. My beautiful babies just gave my hot, beautiful coffee on a lovely Christmas day and the world is a place of rainbows for me right now." She told him before taking a huge gulp of the drink.

Gajeel stared blankly at her for a few seconds before shooting a pointed look at Lily and the kids. "Okay, what the hell did you three put in this stuff that's having Shrimp here act like she just smelled something weird?" he asked them as he held up his own mug.

"Nothing that should have her behaving like _that_." Lily answered while casting a concerned glance in her direction.

Levy scowled at them both before returning to her drink. She had absolutely no idea who'd invented coffee, but that blessed soul deserved their own national holiday.

A few minutes after she'd finished her drink, the doorbell rang. The kids perked up from their place on the floor and she exchanged a confused look with Gajeel.

"Who do you think that is?" she asked him.

Gajeel shrugged before getting up to check. Levy waited patiently before a shout shook the house.

 **"Oh, _hell_ no!"**

* * *

Gajeel thought that Christmas had been playing out just fine. He was in his living room, with his two kids playing on the rug, his badass cat with them, and his adorable- if not vertically challenged- wife next to him. It was as if all was right with the world.

And now, here he stood in his doorway. Facing a bunnygirl, her dumbass husband, their smartass kid, and the wimpy cat.

 **"Oh, _hell_ no!"** he barked.

"Merry Christmas!" said bunnygirl, dumbass, smartass, and wimpy cat chorused in unison.

"Why. The. Hell. Are. You. Here?" he ground out through clenched teeth.

"Oh, come on, don't be a grump; it's Christmas!" Natsu grinned as he held up an armful of presents. Gajeel suddenly had a very powerful urge to knock his stupid face in.

"Lucy!? What are you guys doing here!?" Levy called from behind him, he could hear her bouncing on her toes as she tried to see over his shoulder so she could properly watch the scene around her.

"I'm sorry for not giving you guys a heads up, but we couldn't stand not spending Christmas with you guys. There's no way it could've been nearly as fun if you guys weren't there so we thought we'd come here." Lucy explained to them with a grin that was almost too happy for his liking.

Personally, he wouldn't mind slamming the door in their faces then and there. Honestly, they should've expected it for coming to their house uninvited. Unfortunately, his wife had other plans.

"Awwww! Lucy!" Levy squealed as she brushed past him to envelope her in a crushing embrace.

"Levy!" she squeaked back as they squeezed each other and seemed to disappear into their own mushy, giggly little world.

"You have got to be kidding me right now," he groaned. Was he seriously the only one bothered by the fact that three people, two of which were asshats in his opinion, were intruding on what they'd agreed to be a _family_ Christmas?

"Why you gotta be so gloomy all the time, it's Christmas so lighten up already." Natsu grinned while slinging an arm around his shoulder.

"Don't think you can just show up to my house and tell me what I can and can't do, Salamander!" He growled as he shoved him off.

"Hey, Aiden, what're you doing here!?" the high pitched squeak slightly startled him. He looked over his shoulder to see Mey-rin standing partially behind one of his legs, bouncing with excitement. He needed to get her a bell or something.

"Hey, Mey-rin!" Aiden greeted back, moving to meet her. Upon seeing that, Gajeel felt every single fiber of his being make an instant switch to parent mode.

"Oh, no you don't," he growled. Before Mey-rin made it out the door he scooped her up and tucked her underneath his arm before shoving an accusing finger into Natsu's chest. "Keep your stinky brat away from my little girl, Salamander!"

"Gajeel, don't be mean to them! I'm sure they're just here to say hi and hang out for a while. It's not like they're spending the whole day here or anything, right?" Levy scowled at him as she swatted his hand away from Natsu.

"Um, actually…" Lucy began, rubbing her head sheepishly.

"Luce, what did you do?" Levy asked, her voice tinged with a small amount of dread. Gajeel didn't blame her.

"We may or may not have already told everyone we were coming here, and they may or may not be showing up to spend Christmas here." She explained to them quickly before jumping to hide behind Natsu.

…

"Are you serious, Lu?" Levy finally asked.

"Yeah, but Christmas is a time for family and friends, right?" Lucy asked them lamely.

"Aye sir!" Happy answered unhelpfully.

Gajeel felt a new vein bulging in his forehead as he turned his heated glare on them. "I. Hate. _**ALL OF YOU!**_ "

Their original Christmas plans pretty much went to shit after that. Over the next several hours, Gajeel found himself opening the door for even more uninvited dipshits that he called guildmates.

After Salamander, bunnygirl, Aiden, Happy, came Gray, Noel, Juvia- who he really didn't mind having around as long as her husband kept his shirt on, which wasn't likely. Then Erza-who brought about five strawberry cakes-, Jellal, Lowell and Reina. After that it was Evergreen, Elfman, and Faye. And finally came Mira, Laxus, and Kiyomi; who he was actually surprised to see.

"So you guys decided to show up, too?" he asked them at the door.

Mira nodded before explaining, "Lucy told us that she and the others were stopping by, so we thought we should, too." This has literally become the exact reason everyone had for showing on his doorstep.

She followed it up by passing him a steaming hot casserole, which he took without protest. Yes, the woman had shown up on his doorstep uninvited, but she was still a fantastic cook.

"You know, Uncle Gajeel, I thought you were gonna be a lot more angry at us for showing up here uninvited." Kiyomi told him.

"Trust me, kid, I'm way too tired to be angry at any of this bullshit anymore." He explained to her with a sigh.

* * *

"Oh, pretty!" Mey-rin exclaimed as she held the object in her hands. "Thanks a lot, Noel, this is such a nice snow globe!"

All of the kids were gathered in a circle on the carpet, a shrinking pile of gifts was placed in the middle of them. Turns out Jason hadn't been the only one to make his gifts from scratch, since Noel had gotten him and Rin a homemade snow globe with a seemingly endless snow storm inside of it.

"Noel's daddy helped her by making the glass, and he even made it so that it won't melt even during the summer. All Noel did was just cast a little bit of her magic on it." She explained to them.

"This is seriously the coolest snow globe I've ever seen." Jason told her.

"Thanks, Jason-kun, Noel's really happy you like it."

"Alright, now it's Jason's turn to hand out gifts." Lowell sted from his spot.

"Just so you guys know, they're not fancy or anything," he told them honestly.

"It doesn't really matter; it's the thought that counts." Kiyomi explained to him th a shrug. With that, Jason started passing out is gifts. While the others had immediately thanked him for his gifts-Rin even threw her arms around him-Noel just stared at hers in its box.

"Well, what do you think?" he prompted her. He'd tried to make her pin look as much like a snowflake as he could, and at the time he'd been happy with it. Now, he was worried. What if she didn't like it.

Noel didn't even look up at him. Instead, she reached up to where her hair tie held her right pigtail in place. Once it came out, wavy ebony hair fell down over her shoulder. She repeated the process with the other tail, until her hair fanned out just below her shoulders. Jason suddenly found it way too hard to breath, and it felt like the room temperature had gone up tenfold.

Tucking some of her hair behind her left ear, she secured it into place with the clip. She turned to look at him and smiled brilliantly. He felt a weird lump appear in his throat that made it impossible to swallow.

Had she always been this beautiful?

"Noel loves it, Jason-kun," she told him.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really," she confirmed with a nod.

"Oh, well good. I mean it's good that ya like it and all because I worked really hard on that one. I mean I worked hard on all of them but had to try really hard on that one because I couldn't make it perfect. Um, I mean-"

"He _likeeees_ her," Mey-rin and Kiyomi chorused.

"I do not!" he scowled at them in frustration.

"Um, Jason-kun, Noel has one more present for you," Noel whispered to him quietly.

"Oh, okay, what is it?" he asked.

"Noel needs Jason-kun to close his eyes first before she can give it to him."

Jason shut his eyes and for a while he felt nothing, but after a few moments of waiting he felt something soft and warm pressing against his cheek.

"Ah! What the-" he stammered before Noel ran back over to hide behind Kiyomi, her face red with embarrassment.

"Figures you'd be too pathetic to handle being kissed by a girl," Aiden snorted condescendingly,

"Shut up, turd breath!" he hollered at him before grabbing the last gift in the pile-which happened to be Aiden's- and throwing it at his head.

"Ow! What the heck is this thing made of; metal?!" Aiden groaned while rubbing his now undoubtedly sore head.

"Yes." Jason shot back at him.

"Why are you surprised?" Reina inquired.

"What the heck is this thing supposed to be anyways?"

"It's a flint and steel, you moron!" "I figured since you can't eat your own fire this way you can make it from another source and eat that if you ever need to."

Aiden stared at him for a moment before his eyes drifted down to the flint and steel. Carefully, as if the thing would combust on him, he struck them together and a small shower of sparks feel halfway to the floor before fading. Aiden's lips turned up in a small smile.

"Thanks," he told him sincerely before striking it again, this time harder than before. "Now I kinda feel bad about not getting you anything." He snickered to himself.

"Are you kidding me?!" Jason gawked. He'd actually spent time on making a gift for that punk that he hadn't even bothered to get him jack?

* * *

"Here, Levy, this one's for you." Lucy held out another gift to Levy. She smiled as she took it and immediately went to work on removing the paper. Judging by the weight and shape she'd already concluded that it was book but she was still surprised when she found it was a thick stack of paper messily bound together.

"Oh my gosh, Lucy, is this your new book?" she suddenly gasped.

"It's just the rough draft, and there's still stuff I have to change, and it probably has some errors and stuff so it won't exactly be a quality read." Lucy continued to rant before Levy threw her arms around her best friend.

"I love it, Lu!"

She felt a tug on her sleeve as Mey-rin suddenly appeared in front of her. "Oh, Mommy, you'll open my gift now, right?" Mey-rin asked her excitedly

"Okay, Mey-rin, go get Mommy's gift; I'm so excited to see it!"

"Here you go, Mommy, I really hope you like it!" Mey-rin grinned at her as she passed her a smaller gift wrapped in pink wrapping paper with a white ribbon.

Levy smiled as she took the present from her, and carefully unfolded the side of it. As soon as she saw the familiar gold print on the side she tore off the rest of the paper with a vengeance until she found yet another masterpiece restjng in her lap.

"Mey-rin where did you find this?" Levy gasped as she clutched the book in her lap.

"Mrs. Galata saved it for me when Daddy took Jason and I Christmas shopping." Mey-rin explained gleefully before she looked up at her with pure wide-eyed innocence. "Do you like it, Mommy?"

"I absolutely love it, Rin. Thank you so much!" she exclaimed as she squeezed her baby to her chest. She couldn't believe how well her daughter knew her. It was true that she did rant on a pretty regular basis about books that she liked, but it had become such a normal thing she was next to positive that they'd all mastered just blocking her out.

She set Mey-rin down and she walked back over to Kiyomi and Noel who were playing with Faye while winding up her knew jack in the box.

She glanced over to where Gajeel was leaning against the doorway that lead into their kitchen. Levy stifled a laugh as she realized his eyes were carefully trained on Mey-rin and Aiden. Getting up from the couch, she walked over to join him.

"'This is actually kind of nice don't you think? I mean, I know it's not what we originally planned, but it's really great seeing everyone here." She said while slightly leaning against his arm.

"Yeah, sure. Welcome a whole bunch of uninvited lunatics into our house who all have a history of being a bunch of reckless shitheads; sign me the hell up." He grumbled under his breath.

Levy rolled her eyes and suddenly saw Happy looking at her with a crazed glint in his eye. The kind he usually only got when he was about to eat huge fish. Happy gestured up and she followed his paw before nearly snorting as she realized what was hanging over her's and Gajeel's heads.

Mistletoe.

"Um, Gajeel," she asked him. "Do you know where we are right now?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" he asked her. Barely containing a laugh, Levy pointed up to right above where they were standing. Gajeel followed the line of her pointed finger until his eyes rested on the mistletoe above their heads, and a look of absolute exasperation came onto his face.

Without another word, he bent down, grabbed her underneath her arms, and hoisted her up so she leaning against the doorframe before slamming his lips against hers. Levy gasped in surprise before her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, and her arms went around his neck. After a few seconds, he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers. Levy suddenly found it very hard not to get lost in the depths of his eyes.

"Ewwwwwww!" Jason and Aiden groaned in unison before going back to wrestling on the carpet.

"Come on, I want you to open up your gift now!" she smiled as she squirmed out of his grip and grabbed his arm before she tugged him over to the couch.

Once they were both settled into the couch, Levy reached behind the couch and grabbed a present wrapped in christmas tree covered paper and gleefully passed it to him. Gajeel took it from her with a raised brow and slowly started to open it. His eyes widened slightly as he pulled out a brand new leather jacket.

"A jacket?" he asked her as Levy nodded her head enthusiastically. His hand suddenly went into one of the pockets and he pulled out several notecards.

"What the hell are these?"

"They were Lucy's idea, actually. I thought that it would be a sweet touch with the jacket." Levy explained while twiddling her thumbs in her lap. She'd found out from Luce a while ago that she would make cards for her boys whenever there were chores to be done that they could hand in like coupons. They'd been things like 'special dinner' or 'choice of job'. Since had Levy never really minded what jobs she and Gajeel had gone on, and he was pretty good about what they ate for dinner, she'd taken a slightly more romantic route. Mostly things like 'free hand hold' or 'free cuddle'.

"Trust me, Shrimp, 'sweet' ain't the word I'd use for some of these." He snorted as he read through them.

Levy puffed her cheeks out at his comment. While it was true that there were some perfectly innocent ones, there were also a few that Levy had barely managed to write without feeling extremely embarrassed.

"I'd like to cash this one in now." He told her in a tone that was completely free of any sarcasm as he held out one of the more questionable ones towards her. Levy felt her face turn a very unflattering shade of beat red.

"Gajeel!" she scowled. "That's not funny," she swatted him in the chest angrily as he snickered. He responded by shrugging and wrapping his arm around her.

"Here, now it's your turn," he told her as he handed her a small black box free of any wrapping paper.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"Open it and find out," he encouraged her.

She did, and her breath caught in her throat at what she saw.

"Oh my gosh, Gajeel, it's beautiful." She gasped as she traced the gentle curve of the heart-shaped necklace. She heard a satisfied 'Gihi' behind her as his arm tightened its grip around her. Her finger skimmed over something slightly bumpy and she stared down at her and trailed her finger over it again and her eyes widened as she realized it was a ridge. He'd made her a locket! Her fingers immediately went to the other side and she carefully pulled it open.

"Oh," she gasped at the sight before her.

The hair that clung to her forehead did nothing to hide the dark circles of exhaustion that underlined her eyes. The shirt she was wearing was dampened by sweat and clung to her like a second skin. Her eyes were foggy and tired, and tears still threatened to slip down her flushed cheeks. Yet her smile had never been more genuine.

Gajeel's arm was slung around her shoulder, pulling her against his strong chest while his chin partially rested on the top of her head. His raven hair clung to his forehead and he looked close to tears himself. In the crook of his other arm rested a small blue bundle, angled at the camera so Levy could just make out the small, scrunched up face that was already framed by small raven tufts of hair that was identical to his father's. In her own arms lied a much smaller pink bundle that almost covered the sweet face resting there as dark indigo tresses were curled on the her head.

"Like it?" he finally asked her.

"Love it." She told him as she wrapped her arms around his middle. His hand came up to the back of her head and he carefully ran his hand through her hair.

One of the best moments Levy had had all evening was suddenly ended by a strange scurrying sound above her head.

"Hey, what's that sound?" Mira asked.

"It's coming from the roof!" Erza answered.

"It's Santa!" Aiden whispered in excitement.

"You moron, he came last night!" Jason growled as he knocked Aiden upside the head.

"Shut up!" Aiden shouted back as he tackled her son, sending them both rolling around the carpet as they pummeled each other.

" **SHHHHHHH!"** Everyone hissed at them.

There were a few moments of silence were a pin drop could've been deafening as everyone simultaneously held there breath in anticipation. For what exactly Levy wasn't quite sure. After a few more moments of silence, there was a strange scuffling sound from there chimney, and Master Makarov, decked out in a full Santa Costume with a comically large burlap sack, presumably full of presents, came down their chimney and into their fireplace.

Their _lit_ fireplace.

"Merry Christm _ **AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"**_ The master squealed in pain as he flew out of their fireplace as if shot from a cannon.

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"** Everyone screamed in unison, Laxus slightly louder than anyone else; not that Levy could blame him.

"What kind of sadistic freak lights a fire in their fireplace in Christmas, are they looking to kill Santa?! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!" Master screamed the lecture at the horrified people around him, a vein bulging to epic proportions of his forehead.

"Holy shit," Jason gawked. Normally Levy would've been absolutely livid at the use of, in her opinion, completely vulgar language, but she felt he earned that one.

"I don't know why everyone's freaking out so much." Natsu stated suddenly. "This is _nothing_ compared to last year." Levy definitely had to agree with that.

She didn't think anything could top what happened last year.

* * *

They were finally free of them.

Not long after the whole freak accident with the master showing up, all of their uninvited guests started to head home. Gajeel had been more than happy to see them out until there was no one there except the people who actually lived in the house.

Lily had gone to bed hours ago, and it had been a while since Mey-rin and Jason fell asleep on the rug, Rin's head resting against Jason's shoulder. Not wanting to wake them, he grabbed a blanket from the couch and carefully it over the pair.

He moved back over to the couch, where Levy was still barely awake. He grabbed another blanket, and sat down next to her. Pulling her to his chest, he wrapped them up in the blanket and settled into the soft cushions. Levy opened a sleepy to eye to look up at him.

"Merry Christmas, Gajeel," she told him in a voice so small he almost missed it.

Smiling, he pressed her lips against her forehead before slowly running his hand through her hair.

"Merry Christmas, Shrimp," he whispered back.


End file.
